MLK Day Reflection: Carrying Dr. King’s Legacy Through Food and Farming
Dr. King’s Legacy Through Food Justice
Each year, as we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I reflect on how his life and legacy have shaped my path as an urban farmer in Connecticut. Dr. King is celebrated for his tireless work for civil rights, but his story also has deep roots in agriculture, a connection that feels especially meaningful to me.
Dr. King’s Connecticut Roots
Many people still don’t know that, as a young college student, Dr. King spent two summers working on a tobacco farm in Simsbury, Connecticut. Those were years when he tasted the freedom denied to him in the Jim Crow South, eating at restaurants, joining integrated gatherings, and walking the streets with dignity. In his own words, this experience gave him “an inescapable urge to serve society,” and helped plant the seeds of the activism that would later change the world.
Meadowood, the very land where Dr. King once cultivated tobacco, is now protected as a historic site. At the dedication, historian Todd Levine noted that “if it wasn’t for Martin Luther King Jr.’s time in Connecticut, we might be living in a very different world.” Dr. King’s legacy inspires me to farm in community, demand our right to food sovereignty, and resist a capitalist food system that sacrifices health and sustenance for profit.
My Beginnings: From Food Apartheid to Food Justice
My urban farming journey began as a teenager at Eden Place Nature Center and Farm, nestled in a food apartheid neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, a community plagued by environmental pollution, limited access to fresh food, and systemic neglect. There, I learned firsthand how a lack of land, resources, and access to healthy food shapes a community’s health and opportunities. That summer, I spent my days planting, weeding, and selling our harvest produce at the Saturday farmers’ market, seeing how the simplest act of growing food could transform both a neighborhood and the people in it.
Many years later, that understanding led me to co-found Liberated Land Cooperative, a statewide farmer collective dedicated to food sovereignty, land justice, and community empowerment as an alternative to a profit-driven food system. Through the cooperative, we provide a CSA of locally grown produce, resources, and training while preserving the agricultural legacy and cultural knowledge of Black farmers, a mission that directly confronts the systemic inequities rooted in slavery, segregation, and discriminatory land policies.
Co-founding Liberated Land Cooperative has shown me the transformative power of collective action. It’s not just about growing food; it’s about cultivating resilience, reclaiming autonomy, and building structures that honor our communities, our histories, and our futures. Every plot of land we steward, every farmer we support, and every harvest we share is a continuation of Dr. King’s, Dr. Booker T. Whatley’s, and Fannie Lou Hamer’s vision, an investment in justice, equity, and the right to nourish ourselves and one another. It’s been surreal to build something bigger than myself: a network of resilience, health, and hope.
Continuing the Fight: Food Justice and the Civil Rights Legacy
Dr. King recognized that true equality meant more than legal rights; it required economic justice and access to basic needs like food and land. In the last years of his life, he fought for Black farmers and the poor, demanding fair treatment and opportunity for all. His words still ring true today, as Black farmers make up less than 2% of the nation’s farmers, and food insecurity persists in too many communities.
Organizations carrying on Dr. King’s mission include:
Liberated Land Cooperative – Supporting Black farmers through land access and cooperative farming.
Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund – Providing grants and resources to Black farmers in the Midwest.
Soul Fire Farm – Working to end racism and injustice in the food system through training and advocacy.
Countless grassroots leaders – Connecting Black Americans to their agricultural heritage and fighting for justice in our food systems.
I am proud to be a part of this ongoing work, standing on the shoulders of pioneers like Dr. King and so many others.
Planting Hope, Reaping Change
Working the land in Connecticut, I am reminded daily of Dr. King’s message about education, integrity, and critical thinking. His vision challenges us to look beyond the surface, to question, and to act with courage and compassion. Each season, every seed I sow is both a tribute to his legacy and an act of hope for the future.
On this MLK Day, I recommit myself to cultivating justice, community, and possibility both in the community farm and beyond. Let us all find ways to honor Dr. King’s legacy by nourishing our communities and planting seeds of change, wherever we are.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Live Radiantly,
Vetiveah Immanuel
