I’m a Midwest farmer’s daughter, and the truth about farming is that it’s long hours, dirty, sweaty hard work that’s often never-ending. But it does feel good for the soul. However, it’s often romanticized in stories, especially considering the way much of today’s industrial farming plays out.
That said, another one of the real truths about farming is that a system in the U.S. that was supposed to support farmers, specifically the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, has for decades purposefully excluded Black farmers from financial aid programs. As the back matter to this book testifies, Black farmers once made up 14 percent of farmers a century ago. Today, that number is less than two percent. That also doesn’t take into account the farm land taken from freed slaves. And the taking of land is an even longer conversation when it comes to Native Americans.
Today, a very small percentage of U.S. farms now serve customers through farmers markets, roadside farm stands, or community supported agriculture subscription programs. And of course, a tiny percentage of those are Black farmers.
So it’s with a particular sense of sadness that I feature today’s perfect picture book, one that’s a love letter to the authors’ hometown in South Carolina, the farmers who used to grow and sell crops there at farm stands, and the community as a whole that depended on the exchange of goods and goodwill in supporting each other.
Papa has the last stand.
It wasn't always this way.
A year ago, there were two.
The year before, five.
On Saturdays, we harvest, Papa and I.
Papa gathers peppers, plums, and pumpkins.
I collect the eggs.
We set our harvest in baskets Granny made from sweetgrass.
Then we load them up.
So starts the long day. The trip to the stand, where all of the other sales stalls say “closed.”
Community members come to buy produce, and at the day’s end, the farmer and his son deliver additional produce to an older woman on the way home. But then comes the time when the narrator’s father isn’t feeling well enough to do all this work. The boy does his best to gather and prepare the produce for market, taking it in on his bicycle, and spilling some of his crops on the road along the way. The next time, he figures out a better way to take the produce in, and community members bring their well wishes for the narrator’s father in the form of homemade goods, made from the produce they’ve all bought at the farm stall. The story ends with some of the community members sharing a meal at the narrator’s home.
It’s a sad story, told in a gentle way. And I, for one, am sad that this kind of neighborly experience has become the exception, not the norm. The author’s note is especially poignant, with shout outs to different communities who have complicated relationships with the land and the need for reckoning with the truth, “as complicated as it may be.”
The USDA is offereing a new program, where farmers who’ve been discriminated against can apply for a financial assistance program. And I hope that it is helps right some of the wrongs that have been done. At least, it’s a start.
Activities:
Pair this book with The Farm that Feeds Us: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm by Nancy Castaldo, illus. by Ginny Hsu.
If you have the opportunity to buy fresh produce directly from a farm or farmer’s market, please do so. If there is a Community Supported Agriculture program in your area, see if you can share a produce box with another family.
Read this PBS article (I love that they say “use picture books”!) and information from the author’s note and the link in the review above to prep a conversation about the land that was denied to freed slaves, and about systemic racism in general. Also this video that’s designed for kids explains how financial and educational systems have discriminated against people of color for a century. It can be extrapolated to farmers in that the USDA discriminated against Black farmers by denying them loans.
Make a collage of/or draw pictures of your favorite fruits, vegetables, and other foods that organic farmers grow. Use Nancy Castaldo’s book to help you think of foods. Arrange the pictures in the shape of a color wheel (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Do you eat something from every color in the wheel?
Title: The Last Stand
Author: Antwan Eady
Illustrator: Jarrett & Jerome Pumphrey
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, 2024
Ages: Elementary school
Themes: Black farmers, community, discrimination
For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.
I’m a farmer’s market junkie – I spend the vast proportion of my weekly food budget on Saturday morning at my local market. This picture book has been on my TBR since I first saw the cover, and after reading your review, I have to find it. I agree – it’s tragic that people of color have been pushed from the land, and that small farms and producer-to-consumer shopping seems to be the exception these days.
Me, too! Supporting community-based agriculture is so important. And I hope that the Dept of Ag. rights their wrongs and helps farmers who’ve been discriminated against.
Wow, this looks like a must read. I am fascinated by the fact that most people don’t know where their food comes from and the US Dept of Ag doesn’t support small farmers in the way *I think* they were intended to do or the way people believe they do. Not to mention I know there’s tremendous waste. Thanks for sharing this book.
I have fond memories of going to the farmer’s market with my mom. The closest one to me now has terrible parking issues and I haven’t been in years. Maybe it’s time to go back!
Yes! And the fruits and veggies are always super fresh!
I’m also a midwest farmer’s daughter and now you’ve piqued my interest! Our farm has been in the family some 160 years and is still going strong, though SO very much different from when I farmed there 50-60 years ago. Thanks for scouting out this awesome read.
That qualifies as a Heritage Farm in Iowa! My family’s farm in Illinois is just shy of that, I think. I can’t remember when my great-grandfather bought the place. I hope you enjoy the book!