African American Legacy in Gardening and Horticulture Symposium

Back for a second year, The African American Legacy in Gardening and Horticulture Symposium will explore the unsung historical legacy of African American plantspeople, horticulturists, residential gardeners, and gardening clubs. These personal narratives and generational gardening practices have all too often been ignored, overlooked, or not fully appreciated within the framework of American landscape history, global ethno-botanical viewpoints, and contemporary environmental writing. This one-day symposium brings together a cadre of horticulturists, historians, beautification advocates and plantspeople to celebrate the contributions made by these gardening innovators and modern-day practitioners, while further educating and enlightening the public and future generations of plant lovers.

Sessions include:

• The Wisdom of Trees: Urban Forestry and Black Land Ownership in the Subaltern South

• Beyond Borders: The Ethno-Botanical and Horticultural Influence of Africans, African Americans and Immigrants on the American Landscape

• Voicing African American Narrative Stories in Contemporary Environmental Literature and Media

Choose to attend in-person or virtually. The in-person program will conclude with a Symposium Social and Seed Swap.

The symposium takes place in-person at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham or virtually through a livestream. Free. Register online.