Stolen Land, Stolen Future
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Dates2014 - 2014
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Author
James McGill is a 3rd-generation pig farmer, and at 71 he has been farming for over 50 years.
James McGill is a 3rd-generation pig farmer, and at 71 he has been farming for over 50 years. After returning from Vietnam he, along with a partner managed a 320-acre farm, McGill Farms, from 1976 to 1987. He lost it all due to alleged suspect practices by a USDA lending agency and has been fighting to keep his land since 1987. His family was able to retain just five acres of the land which he is still farms, while he dreams of self-sufficiency and being able to reclaim ownership of the rest of his family's land. Mr. McGill's story is not an uncommon one for African-American farmers in the United States, but it is a seldom told one.
Winner of the 2015 Alexia Foundation Student Grant