The Essence of Freedom
J. E. Clark's pineapple farmer, Eatonville, Florida, Courtesy of The New York Public Library
Freedom served as the bottom line for the people, movements, and organizations discussed in the series tagged as food rebels. We are talking about people who understood that a group’s political freedom begins with economic independence; you can't have one without the other. Food rebels had been mindful that a group cannot have political sovereignty without the freedom to subsist on what they own and produced. The imperative for economic development is that the ability to consistently produce a profitable revenue streams make freedom a reality. A 1913 National Negro Business League (NNBL) convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania featured informational sessions on all-black autonomous townships founded and governed independently in the early 20th century and during height of lynching in the United States. These towns had thriving black owned and operated farms and other food related businesses. Sessions at the 1913 NNBL included, The Negro Town—The Opportunity It Offers for Learning the Fundamental Duties and Responsibilities of Social and Civic Life with presenters from Mound Bayou, Mississippi and Roley, Oklahoma. In 1913 NNBL record showed the existence of 29 African-American towns and 16 African-American settlements.
