'Hope springs eternal' for one of South's oldest Black-owned farms
Ashley HopkinsonWelcome to The American South!
If you're new here, thank you for subscribing and becoming a part of our community where we focus on producing revelatory journalism about the South.
This week we're highlighting families and tradition. One story starts on a Black family farm in South Carolina, and another ends with an Indian family restaurant in South Carolina. What I've enjoyed about both of these stories is that they highlight the value of bringing our full culture and heritage to the places we call home.
We also have stories about civil rights and justice. One is about re-naming a street in Montgomery to honor a civil rights champion.
To close, I'm sharing some creepy Halloween recipes from our sister publication Southern Kitchen. If you dare, read Maria Clark's story on five of the spookiest sites to visit in the South. The article includes ghost stories told from the perspective of Haunted House tour guides.
Thanks for reading!
Take good care.
Ashley Hopkinson (Editor, The American South and Southern Kitchen)
P.S. Happy Halloween!
'Hope springs eternal': COVID-19 not the end for one of South's oldest Black-owned farms
For more than 100 years, Dori Sanders and her family have kept the crops on Sanders Peach Farm rotating like the hands of a clock, steadily and unwaveringly.
The Filbert, South Carolina, farm was started by Sanders’ father Marion Sanders and is one of the oldest Black-owned farms in the South.
Since then, the farm and its accompanying roadside stand off Highway 321 have been a draw for locals and tourists. Visitors travel miles for peaches picked in the warm summer months. In the fall, the stand is normally filled with sweet potatoes and collard greens.
But more than anything visitors come to see Sanders, an award-winning author who honed her storytelling chops at this roadside stand when she wasn't running the farm from atop her orange Kubota tractor.
From the Deccan Plateau to the American South: Chai Pani explores ancient Indian foodways
If you travel east from Mumbai, things begin to change. First, the cliffs of the Western Ghats rise sharply out of India's maritime plains. Then, as elevation increases, the air becomes cooler and the scenery grows lush and green.
Chai Pani chef-owner Meherwan Irani said it's not unlike traveling through the southern Appalachian mountains.
Irani was raised in the Indian state of Maharashtra. He now lives in the small Appalachian city of Asheville, North Carolina, where he opened his first restaurant, Chai Pani in 2009. Irani opened a second location in Decatur, Georgia, in 2013.
"It's completely different from the rest of India and even different from the coastal parts of the same region," he said. "I was just blown away by how there was a story to be told of trade and foods being brought from all around the world, and also food based on what could grow there."
Fred D. Gray Avenue dedicated to civil rights attorney in Montgomery
Montgomery leaders honored a homegrown civil rights hero Tuesday by defying a state law to name a street for attorney Fred Gray.
Gray grew up on the former Jefferson Davis Avenue and went on to represent Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and others in cases that helped topple segregation and reshape the nation.
He still practices law with his Tuskegee-based firm, with an office in Montgomery.
“The struggle for equal justice has not ended,” Gray said. “We are still living in a society that has two basic problems: racism and inequality. They are still there. We still have a responsibility. … Don’t wait on somebody to tell you what to do. Make up your mind. See what these problems are, and get out to solve the problem.”