SUNDAY 4 AUGUST 2019The ugly legacy blighting black
agriculture in the US
Black farming families in America used to live off the fruits of their
labour, says Korsha Wilson. Now, their descendants are fighting to
keep hold of the land that’s rightfully theirs
Aubrey Terry at his Belle Terry Farm in Halifax, Virginia. Developers, lawyers and distant relatives are threatening his livelihood
(Pictures by Washington Post/Katherine Frey)
In Halifax County, Virginia, about 200 miles from the District of Columbia, vibrant green hills bounce out
of the earth, and muscular, dark brown cattle rest in meadows alongside farmhouses old and new. Creeks
and rivers jut through the landscape like stretched yarn, mixing with soil under crisscrossing tree branches.
This is Virginia’s agricultural belt, far from metropolitan Alexandria or Arlington in the northern part of the