Home: Exhibition Introduction

Introduction 

Early on an April morning in 1969, a line of Black faces extended down Budlong Avenue in Los Angeles, California.¹ With backpacks flung over their shoulders, children restlessly waited outside of the University Seventh-Day Adventist Church for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, the church doors opened and a woman with a black jacket and fro began to usher children inside. Hurriedly, they walked past the handwritten sign taped to the outside doors: “John Huggins Hot Breakfast for Children Program. Free from 7-9 AM — Black Panther Party Southern California Chapter.”² As children filed into the main room, rushing towards metal chairs placed around fold-out tables, women with their curls wrapped up in hair nets finished placing the last of the egg sandwiches on styrofoam plates. Other Panthers, wearing black and white pins that read “Power to the People,” began serving cups of orange juice and plates of hot food. Some volunteers watched the children eat while others circled around a flyer that would be sent out to community members and supporters later that day. Bolded and underlined, it read, “one of the greatest forms of oppression is hunger…We are asking for your donations to the Free Breakfast for Children Program.”³ 

Meanwhile, 1,852 miles away in Sunflower County, Mississippi, activist Fannie Lou Hamer was also running her own food justice movement. The Freedom Farm Cooperative, spanning 692 acres of land, provided Black families with the opportunity to own farmland, access to employment and healthcare, and create their own sustainable food sources.⁴ Walking around the community spaces, one would spot co-op members maintaining the gardens filled with kale, turnips, corn, sweet potatoes, and okra, almost ready to be harvested and shared amongst the farmers and their Mississippi neighbors.⁵ After continuing through the farm, passing by sprawling acres of cattle grazing land, cotton, and cucumbers, one stumbles across women crouched down with hammers repairing a fence. One woman sat with a plank of wood and a bucket of dark paint, preparing a new sign to be hung on the fence. “Welcome to The Pig Bank,” it reads.⁶ Finally, towards the outer edges of the cooperative, Fannie Lou Hammer was spotted knocking on the doors of homes in the FFC’s housing development. As husbands and wives and children open the doors, she hands them a flyer informing them on how to register to vote — local elections will be any day now. 

Whether it was in the inner cities or the depths of rural America, Black women were largely involved in food justice movements throughout the 20th century. While these women may have contributed large efforts to the movement, this does not mean that their labor was broadly recognized and valued at the time. In addition to the sexism and racism present on a national level, the resurgent feminst movement lacked intersectionality and some felt it was exclusionary to Black women.⁷ Historical records on Black food justice sometimes lack intersectional perspectives as well; sources on the BPP’s survival programs rarely consider the role of gender, and sources on the Freedom Farm are generally hard to come by. 

This exhibition thoroughly examines the role of Black women in 20th-Century food justice with a variety of primary and secondary sources. The exhibition begins with an examination of stereotypes about Black women and the history behind Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. The following two sections are case studies of women involved with the BPP’s Free Breakfast Program and Fannie Lou Hamer’s Freedom Farm. Finally, the exhibition concludes with a section on contemporary Black women in food justice. The work of Black women was essential to 20th-century food justice movements, despite the fact they consistently faced stereotypes that undermined their labor.