Linda's Blogspot

​ Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference ​The Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners (BUGs) National Conference is an annual national gathering in the United States dedicated to Black agriculture, food justice, land stewardship, and community empowerment. Organized by Black Urban Growers (BUGs) , the event brings together urban and rural growers, land activists, educators, and community health organizers to address systemic inequalities within the American food system. ​ History ​The conference was established in 2010 by community organizer and food activist Karen Washington, along with co-founders Suzanne Babb, Lorrie Clevenger, Regina Ginyard, and other members of Black Urban Growers. The inaugural convening took place at Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, New York, attracting over 500 attendees and featuring keynote speaker Will Allen, founder of Growing Power. ​The national gathering was founded to address systemic barriers facing Black agriculturalists, including historical la...

  Learning Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia One Mistake at a Time Sometimes You Have to Make a Mistake Before You Understand the System One of the things I have learned during my years as a volunteer Wikipedian is that understanding how to use Wikimedia platforms takes time. You can spend hours learning how to upload photographs, add information to files, and contribute to the world's largest free-knowledge projects. Yet, even after years of participation, you can encounter a feature that leaves you wondering how it works. Recently, I had that experience with Commons Gallery. Wikimedia Commons is the media repository where people upload photographs, videos, audio recordings, and other media that can be used to illustrate Wikipedia articles and support free knowledge. Over the years, I have uploaded photographs documenting people, places, cultural events, and activities. I am interested not only in making these photographs available but also in finding ways to present them so that ot...

P.W. Chavers: The African American Entrepreneur Who Envisioned Economic Independence P.W. Chavers: The African American Entrepreneur Who Envisioned Economic Independence Banking, education, manufacturing, and a vision for community development in the early twentieth century When we study African American history, we often focus on the struggle for civil rights, the abolition of slavery, and the individuals who challenged racial discrimination through political activism. But there is another important history to explore: the efforts of African Americans who built businesses, established financial institutions, developed educational opportunities, and sought to create greater economic independence for their communities. Pearl William Chavers, known as P.W. Chavers, was one of these individuals. Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1876, Chavers became a banker, entrepreneur, journalist, industrialist, and real estate developer. His activities connected several areas of economic and community devel...

  From Peanut Fields to Global Trade: The Economic Evolution of the Mouride Brotherhood ​The transformation of Senegal’s Mouride Brotherhood ( Muridiyya ) from a 19th-century agricultural collective into a modern, worldwide commercial enterprise stands as one of the most remarkable economic journeys in modern African history. ​What began in the dry interior of West Africa under colonial rule as a spiritual movement centered on peanut farming has evolved into an international trading empire. Yet, despite moving from rural agriculture to global retail, real estate, and import-export finance, the underlying spiritual ethos— discipline, mutual trust, solidarity, and labor as an act of worship —remains the driving engine of Mouride economic life. ​1. Urbanization and Domestic Commercial Domination ​As drought, soil degradation, and falling global commodity prices eroded the profitability of West Africa's peanut sector in the mid-to-late 20th century, the Mouride economy adapted. La...

  Sanctified Soil: How Sufi Brotherhoods Transformed Labor and Peanut Farming in Senegal ​In late 19th-century West Africa, as traditional kingdoms collapsed under French colonial rule, a profound social and spiritual revolution swept through Senegambia. At the heart of this transformation was the fusion of Sufi Islam, agricultural labor, and peanut cultivation—a movement most iconically embodied by the Mouride Order (Muridiyya), founded by Sheikh Amadou Bamba in 1883. ​Faced with colonial conquest and the breakdown of old social hierarchies, Sufi leaders fundamentally redefined the relationship between manual labor, human dignity, and spiritual devotion. ​Work as Worship: The Baye Fall and Ligéey Yàlla La ​Before the late 19th century, physical farming in Senegambia was often associated with low-caste status or forced domestic slavery under military elites. Sheikh Amadou Bamba and his prominent disciple, Ibrahima Fall (founder of the Baye Fall movement), radically overturned this ...

  From Marseille to the Peanut Fields: How French Soap Manufacturing Fueled West African Slavery ​In the 19th century, the coastal French port city of Marseille emerged as the industrial epicenter of European soap manufacturing and vegetable oil processing. Yet behind the booming production of soaps—most notably the famous Savon de Marseille —lay a direct, extractive relationship with West Africa, where industrial demand for raw materials expanded domestic slavery across the region's peanut fields. ​The Industrial Fat Crisis ​As the Industrial Revolution accelerated across Europe, urban populations expanded rapidly, bringing sweeping changes to public hygiene standards. Soap transformed from a luxury item into an everyday consumer staple for personal care, laundry, and textile processing. ​Historically, European soap makers relied heavily on animal fats (tallows) and domestic olive oil. However, European olive harvests were notoriously volatile, and animal fats could not keep ...