Farming Freedom: 'The Aunties' and Their Radical Act on Harriet Tubman’s Lands

Join Esther Dillard on 'The Color Between The Lines' as we explore the powerful documentary, 'The Aunties.' This film celebrates the inspiring journey of Donna Dear and Paulette Greene, two pioneering Black elder women who farm Harriet Tubman’s ancestral lands in Maryland as an act of liberation. Filmmakers Charlyn Griffith-Oro and Jeannine Kayembe-Oro share their insights into capturing the lives of these remarkable women. Premiering February 17 on Black Public Media’s YouTube channel, this documentary is a tribute to Black history and environmental activism. Don't miss this profound story of love, legacy, and liberation.

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Transcript

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On this edition of the Color between the Lines. To hear them talk about it was mysterious. We speak to two filmmakers who are sharing the legacy of Harriet Tubman, kept alive by two black women farmers. Foreign I'm Esther Dillard chatting with writers, authors and experts who offer an added perspective for listeners. This is the color between the lines. While many people are trying to erase black history, there are two women by the name of Donna Dear and Paulette Green who are trying to preserve black history with a unique connection to farmland. The married couple bought the farmland in 1994. Sat. It was a land adjacent to Paulette's great great grandparents farm. The special thing about this land located on the eastern shore of Maryland, is that it once was the plantation where Harriet Tubman and her family lived as enslaved Africans. The women run the Mount What? The women run the Mount Pleasant Acres farm. It's a 111 acre plot. There they run tours of the land and grow food that they distribute to their neighbors in southwest Philadelphia. Filmmakers Carolyn Griffith Oro Yeah. I think what Charlien said, Love Letter is really beautiful because of what it took to make this film and what it took for their lives. It's now an award winning short film featured on Black Public Media's The main ingredient of all of that is love. online series Afropop Digital Shorts. I grew up on a 300 acre farm. The aunties is our love note to them as we witness them living. Lives that very proudly espouse the values of Harriet Tubman and their families. Legacies. For me. The aunties is about two black gay women. That are in stewardship of black ancestral land that's connected to Harriet Tubman Railroad and just the rich history overall of Maryland Eastern Shore and. to making this into a film? Well, I became an urban farmer at the age of 19. I helped start an urban farm here in North Philadelphia, and through that became a part of a network of black farmers across the country. And. I think not only did that journey and pathway really lead me to the aunties, but I was also a, you know, Harriet enthusiast and studied her and not just the kind of surface part of her story, but the deeper parts of her story. So I think a lot of my purpose and journey also brought me to that land and that space, as well as meeting the aunties. Aunt Donna tells us a story about when she was in the service and they came back to Preston to visit, and she looked at Aunt Paulette and said, we're. I'm gonna retire here. We're gonna own a farm here. I'm gonna retire on a farm here in Preston and. And she says in 1994 that it was a. It was probably around now, it was winter time. There was a huge storm. And they were passing by the land and saw for sale sign being put up. She pulled around, told the person, I'll buy this property. What are you asking? And within a few days, they made the sale happen. To hear them talk about it was mysterious. And the way that they began to understand the history of the place was through the relationships that they were forming through just doing what they do the way that they do it, you know, which is very community centric. It's very about, you know, being in good, productive relationship with others. And so they were allowing college students to come to the land. They have friends who are historians. They were, you know, reconnected. Reconnected to more of the really beautiful community of Preston, of the entire Eastern Shore, and. Janine, what would you say in regard to, you know, Harriet Tubman and her history and how. That's actually what I was gonna ask. Yeah. So Harriet was enslaved in Dorchester county by Broadus and Brodis had a son in law that was a Dr. Anthony Thompson or Thomas Thompson Thompson. So that was the Thompson plantation. Her mother was enslaved, was enslaved there. And her father, we know, was free and he was a logger and he worked in that forest. And, you know, Harriet would walk. It's about, I don't know how long is like a 20 minute drive, so maybe even 30 minute drive. So Harriet would walk to go visit her family on this plantation and. This land when everyone says this is Harriet Tubman's ancestral land. This is where her family lived and was enslaved, and this is where she took her family out of enslavement. So. So this is the trip where she took her mom and one of her brothers, I believe. Two of her brothers. Both of her brothers. Okay. This is the trip where she took her mom and her brothers, not from where she took her first trip to our understanding. And Brodus also used to hire out, send Harriet out to go and work for other people and. And made money off of Harriet's labor working for other people, including for Thompson, so. Yeah. The other notable thing about that trip that. That a lot of people know about now and often reference, because she left that part of Maryland on Christmas Eve of 1854 and arrived in Philadelphia, where we live. And her and her siblings are signed. Well, her siblings are signed into the log at the anti slavery office of William Still. That was here in Philadelphia on December 29th. So it took them four days to cross from Maryland through Delaware and into Philadelphia. What do you ladies want? The people who watch this movie, what do they. What do you want them to get from this film and to take away? I think there's so many different themes happening, so. I'm just. I'm just excited for people to be able to witness. To witness that a film was made about people like Aunt Paulette and Aunt Donna. As Aunt Paulette says, everyday people. Because it's not just about those whose names you know. I think that I hope that people see themselves in many parts or in some parts of the tale and understand a little bit more about who they can be as they live their lives with purpose. You know, because what we're seeing of them and how fantastic they are, they always ask us, well, why did you want to do this? And why do people care about what we're doing? Tell me. Explain this to me. And we're like, well, Auntie, you know, you all have done really fabulous things and have lived so truthfully, so honestly, so bravely, and. And they just say, well, we were just being ourselves. Love on your elders and. If your family has land, hold on to it. Truth. Get the cousins. Pay the taxes. Pay the taxes. Pay your taxes. Pay the taxes on the land. Sometimes it be a hundred dollars. The fact that they've been able to keep their family's land. Aunt Paulette's grandparents were born in the 1800s, 1880s, so she has land that goes that far back. And that's really inspiring to me. So I know it's not for everyone, and it's not the easiest most thing to do to even call the cousins in the first place to get the money for the taxes. I understand. But if you have a little time and you got a little energy, save your family's land. Especially black. I guess the only question I had was why? Why was it so. I guess why was it so important for them to acquire that land? Was there something that drew her to that land, those two to that land, to say, we want to. We really want to get this particular 111 acres or whatever it is that that was. It was connected to Aunt Park. Aunt Paulette's great grandparents land. And the. And in the film, Aunt Donna says, we, we. It was like we were preparing for it our whole lives. So when. So when you, when you do, when a piece of land calls to you and you steward it, there is no planning. There's no, oh, my gosh, I can't, couldn't wait to just press send to buy this piece of land. It really calls to you and it's really in your pathway, in your own what? Whatever your spirituality is or however it comes to you, that's how the land chooses you. And there's not really an ingredient. As people that have steward all types of land, different people's projects around the world, those pieces of land just call to us whether our ancestors been there, whether our spirits have been there before. It's not like a. It's not usually a mathematical. All right. All right. Oh, maybe at some point they were like, oh, yeah, it was going to be an investment, but, like, that's what everyone says. And then it becomes this place where people commune and gather and are able to build families upon and, you know, share families with. So, yeah, I don't think it was like a calculated, okay, this is what we're going to do. It was more of, like, spirit called them. And right place on Donna was prepared. Plus, it being family land, they. They wanted to be, you know, somewhere closer to New York for Aunt Paulette, but still down south. So that is chill. So those kind of things. But for the most part, it was a spiritual, spiritual connection. That's it for this edition of the Color between the Lines. The film is called the Aunties, and you can find it on the Black Public Media YouTube channel. And if you'd like to hear the longer, in depth version about the filmmakers and the aunties, feel free to check out the Color between the Lines podcast on the iHeartRadio app. I'm Esther Dillard.