Tracing A Fraught And Amazing History Of American Horticulture

Short Wave

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4.7 • 6.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

When Abra Lee became the landscape manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, she sought some advice about how to best do the job. The answer: study the history of gardening. That led to her uncovering how Black involvement in horticulture in the U.S. bursts with incredible stories and profound expertise, intertwined with a tragic past. She's now teaching these stories and working on a book, Conquer the Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country's Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers. Abra Lee talks with Short Wave producer Eva Tesfaye about uncovering Black horticultural history and several hidden figures who shaped it.

We'd love to hear of any unsung horticulturists or gardeners in your life - write us at ShortWave@npr.org.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Shortwave is celebrating Black History Month, all month,
0:03.6	and this week especially.
0:05.9	So today we want you to get out your gardening gloves
0:08.4	and break open your history books
0:10.4	because our guest is leading a movement
0:13.0	to honor the hidden figures of Black Gardening.
0:15.8	Enjoy.
0:16.8	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:22.8	Sub-Shortweivers, producer Eva Tessfy here.
0:25.8	And I'm so excited that it's Black History Month.
0:29.2	And I'm even more excited to share with you
0:31.5	what I learned about one of my favorite scientific fields,
0:35.6	horticulture.
0:36.7	The best way I can describe the field of horticulture
0:39.6	is it's a real range like the field of cooking.
0:43.5	So my background is ornamental horticulture.
0:46.2	That's what my degree is in.
0:48.0	So if you think of beautification, making things pretty,
0:52.2	the decorative part of plants that is my lane that I drive in,
0:57.2	but there's farming, there's botany, landscape architecture,
1:01.2	which is a whole other discipline.
1:04.5	Aprile has been a horticulturalist for about two decades now,
	...

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