Black Belt Justice Center

The Black Belt Justice Center worked with ABC News Investigative Series featuring Black legacy farmers from Georgia, Alabama, Kansas, and Arkansas. Video link: httpsabcnewsgocomUSvideocracksbla... Additionally, The BBJC worked with an NPR reporter on the numerous problems with the implementation of the debt cancellation program. The 3-part series was published on February 12th, 19th, and 26th, 2023.

Invited Speaker at the Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance 10th Anniversary Conference in Shannon, MS on January 21, 2023. Invited Speaker for the VIP (Very Impactful People): Social Innovation & the Social Entrepreneur Speaker Series sponsored by SENSA (Stanford Social Entrepreneurial Students Association), Stanford University on November 13, 2023. In 2023, the BBJC launched the Lowcountry Sweetgrass Restoration and Human Sustainability Initiative (LSRHSI). The purpose of the LSRHSI is to develop innovative partnerships across the South Carolina Lowcountry with private landowners, conservationists, and Gullah legacy basket weavers and harvesters to repropagate wild sweetgrass and to acquire land to be held in a community land trust for the Gullah Basket weaving Community.

Advocated and secured over $6.7M in debt cancellation payments under Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act for Black legacy farmers to receive debt cancellation payments authorized under Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act amounting to over $6.7M. Provided pro bono legal representation, technical assistance, and financial assistance to over 40 Black legacy farmers and heirs property land stewards. Supported over 20 traditional artisans through commissioned artworks for our permanent collection, honorariums, mutual aid, video and audio documentation, print interviews, and digital marketing. BBJC acquired artworks and/or began commissioned artworks from the following fiber artists: Jan Hollins (Atlanta, GA); Alice Beasley (Oakland, CA); Linda Asbury (Atlanta, GA); Henry Leonard (Atlanta, GA); Angela Franklin (Dakar, Senegal); Carolyn Crump (Houston, TX); Ramsess (Los Angeles, CA); Marquetta Johnson (Atlanta, GA); Lillie Singleton (Walterboro, SC); Janette Holland (Stafford, VA); Patricia Montgomery (Oakland, CA); April Anue Shipp (Detroit, MI); Georgette Sanders (McClellanville, SC); Henrietta Snype (Mount Pleasant, SC); Carren Clarke (Richmond, VA); Jimi King (Atlanta, GA); Stephen Hamilton (Boston, MA); Henry Leonard (Atlanta, GA); Antwon Ford (Mount Pleasant, SC); Gasali Adeyemo (Santa Fe, New Mexico); and Uzoma Samuel (Lagos, Nigeria).