Hello all!
I wanted to share the start of what I hope is a success story, and to pick your brains to see if anyone has further advice on advancing this specific programming or creating similar work!
We have a Black History Month lesson available to 3rd Grade students, and wanted to keep our lesson based as locally as possible. In 2020, our organization partnered with several other local nonprofits, the University of Missouri, and our state historical society, to honor Henry Kirklin, a local agricultural pioneer and the first black lecturer at the University of Missouri. While this was a great step towards honoring the history of farming and gardening in mid-MO, we also recognized that there was a lot of work still to be done.
As garden educators, we are not always efficient with databases and archives, and cross-curricular ties to social studies can be a challenge. In my limited research, I continued to stumble upon another name, Nathaniel Bruce. I ran into innumerable dead ends, but I could put together bits and pieces - Bruce was the principal of one of only a handful of schools available to black students in Missouri, and appeared to have won awards for his corn growing. I really wasn't certain how to proceed, and decided to just start emailing folks who might have better context than I did.
What I quickly learned is that archivists and historical societies are among the strongest, most responsive folks that I have ever met. Within a matter of weeks, Bruce's alma maters (Shaw University and Bates University) had both provided me with his official records and a variety of additional materials; our State Historical Society provided information on how to scour newspaper archives like Chronicling America and some specific excerpts of out-of-print textbooks; and eventually, I was provided with information on a group attempting to buy back the land the school once sat on. I've been hugely encouraged by this experience - so much of our history is lost, intentionally or otherwise, and it's easy for me to become cynical about the history of the work we do. These experts were enthusiastic to assist us, and resulted in a far deeper, more meaningful lesson for our students.
There's still more research and archival work to be done, and again I continue to find new names and stories to tell. I'm curious if anyone here has had success creating place-based histories by partnering by historical societies or museums, or if others have advice on ways to create meaningful place-based histories to utilize in our gardens!
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Amity Freiman
Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture
Columbia MO
(They/Them)
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