The events listed here are from a variety of sources and may be of interest to those involved in food systems work.
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Sankofa Webinar Series: Raging Storms with Shirley Sherrod
January 26, 2021 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Free
Sankofa Series
Sankofa is a word from the Akan people of Ghana. It means “go back and fetch it” and reminds us of the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bring it into the present in order to ensure a strong future. The Sankofa Series is a monthly webinar series sharing the wisdom from past NESAWG conferences again and using it to help us move forward in creating meaningful change in the food system.
Shirley Sherrod is a Baker County Georgia native who grew up on her family’s farm. In March 1965, her father was murdered by a white farmer who was not prosecuted. The tragic murder of her father when she was 17 years old, had a profound impact on her life and led to her decision to stay in the south to work for change.
Shirley helped to start the civil rights movement in Baker County and later married Charles Sherrod, one of the founding members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and leader of SNCC’s work in southwest Georgia.
With her husband and others, she helped to form New Communities, Inc., the first Community Land Trust in the United States. New Communities serves as a laboratory and model in the movement toward the development of community land trusts (CLTs) throughout the country. There are more than 200 CLTs today.
Shirley serves as the Executive Director of the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education, Inc., Vice President for Development for New Communities, Inc. and State Lead for the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic and Social Justice (SRBWI)
