What's Happening Now?

Durham, NC

Cultivating Action: Gardeners as Agents of Change

2019: The dying of century-old willow oaks in Durham, NC, reflects deep changes of time and population. Courtesy of Matthew Sima.

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The Problem

Science tells us what happens to the environment and why, but not how to create change. Environmental justice is rooted in the values that connect people to the Earth and each other. For gardeners, the land provides food and beauty, joining people, the past, faith, and action.

The Roots

Racial divisions impact garden clubs. For whites, clubs were social and focused on flower arranging. African Americans, many raised on farms, once avoided gardens but later saw them as sources of spirituality and connections to history. As the city changes, clubs unite in concern for their legacy as well as the future impact of climate change.

The Solutions

Gardeners discuss and engage their plants and places in different ways, requiring those wishing to learn from the garden to ground themselves in the languages, culture, and histories of gardeners. Gardeners reveal ways to re-engage with Durham’s past and build alliances to invest in neglected and changing neighborhoods. Justice means understanding, preserving, and teaching different gardening histories.

2019: As part of our commitment, Duke students like Grace Chun (center) took part in community work days at Briggs. Courtesy of Chris Teufel.
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2019: Briggs engages young people by hosting trips and meet-your-vegetable museums. Courtesy of Chris Teufel.
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2019: This Blossom rain garden conserves water, prevents erosion, and promotes native plant growth. Courtesy of Rand Alotaibi.
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2019: Briggs bridges a food-insecure area with communities and schools, part of a changing Durham.  Courtesy of Chris Teufel.
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2019: Senior Matthew Sima discusses our research with Blossom Garden Club members. Courtesy of Robin Kirk.
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Jackie Jones of the Year-Round Garden Club talks about losing trees to age and culling in her old neighborhood. Interview by Elena McNiece.
Additional Media
Linton Evans talks about producing most of the vegetables and meat his family needed on his boyhood farm. Interview by Grace Chun.
Additional Media

Our Point of View

From our community partners, we learned that environmental justice must include gardeners and reflect their knowledge and relationships to the Earth, family, and community. Gardens foster spirituality and empower action by creating community. Race, class, and connections to the natural world vary among gardeners, as do the reasons why they cultivate plants. Gardeners understand challenges, from an untimely frost to gentrification to climate change.

Pauli Murray Project and the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice

The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice promotes dialogue and storytelling as tools for tackling enduring inequalities and injustice. The Duke students who partnered with us uncovered tremendous potential for gardeners in our community to share stories across lines of race and class to find common concerns about the future of our planet. We learned that the advocacy required to heal the planet begins by building relationships based on deeper understandings about the past, human nature, and inequity.

Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute

Contributors

University Partners

Duke University

Faculty Project Directors
Robin Kirk
Barbara Lau
Giulia Ricco
Saskia Cornes

Students
Surafel Adere
Sharmi Amin
Grace Chun
Alyssa Cleveland
James Daubert
Jordan Dozier
Spencer Ganus
Will Graham
Emma Herold
Caroline Kealoha
Clare McKenzie
Elena McNiece
Shom Tiwari
Rachel Radvany
James Robinson
Ana Rodríguez
Matthew Sima
Daniel Song
Chris Teufel

Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute

Duke Campus Farm

Community Partners

Pauli Murray Project and the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice