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NYBG
NEW
YORK
BOTANICAL
GARDEN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 3, 2023
NYBG’s 2023 Black History Month Celebration Explores the Enduring Botanical
Legacy of the African Diaspora and the Contributions of Contemporary Advocates
Now through Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Bronx, New York—For Black History Month 2023, The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG)
celebrates the African American experience through plants, honoring barrier-breaking pioneers in
environmental science and agricultural education as well as contemporary activists and advocates who
are creating and supporting communities that foster representation, identity, and diversity. Offerings
online and at the Botanical Garden explore the enduring botanical legacy of the African Diaspora,
revealing the inextricable link between Black history and American history through the lens of
gardening and farming, horticulture and science, and arts and culture. From thought-provoking
conversations and personal stories to inspiring lectures and programs for all ages, learn about the
foundational contributions of Black Americans to our understanding of the plant world.
Online offerings are available at https://www.nybg.org/event/black-history-month/
Programs taking place at NYBG are noted below.
NYBG’s 2023 Black History Month celebration features:
Welcome Message from New York City Councilmember Althea Stevens,
Council District 16, the Bronx
The Story of Vanilla
Select weekends beginning February 18; 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, Lowland Tropical Rain Forest Gallery
In 1841 Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old enslaved Black child living on a plantation on Réunion
island in the Indian Ocean, devised an innovative technique of hand-pollinating the orchid
species Vanilla planifolia—initiating the global trade in vanilla, which would become one of the
world’s most popular spices. Explore the familiar—and surprising—fragrances, flavors, and
foods that are produced from this orchid and other plants found in the Haupt Conservatory. A
rotating selection of multisensory activities will be presented by NYBG staff, volunteers, and
partners during The Orchid Show: Natural Heritage.
Kids Corner
Gather the kids for activities to discover the cultural influences of the African Diaspora, and
watch an interview about the importance of caring for the natural world.
NEW
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BOTANICAL
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o Rooted in Plants
Through February 28, 2023; Self-Guided Exploration: 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Guided Activities:
1:30–4:30 p.m. (weekdays), 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (weekends); Storytime: 2:30 p.m. on
weekends and holiday Mondays, weather permitting
Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Children can explore ways in which people of the African Diaspora have contributed to our
understanding and uses of plants around the world by investigating seeds native to Africa
and learning about West African indigo dyeing by making their own dyed bag. They can
also create a pine cone bird feeder in celebration of New York City birder Christian Cooper
and discover inspirational stories about Black botanists, herbalists, and environmentalists
from history and today.
o Celebrate Science!
In this online video, Jalika Barrie, Master Explainer at the Everett Children’s Adventure
Garden, talks to Eliot Nagele, Director of NYBG’s Thain Family Forest, about how they
discovered the natural world and the mentors who have been important to them.
Plants as Liberation
This wide-ranging series of interviews, which began in February 2022, continues as Manager
of the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden Arvolyn Hill speaks with Black people in the plant
world. From herbalists and houseplant enthusiasts to farmers and gardeners, viewers can
listen and learn how they are using plants as a powerful expression of liberation and freedom.
o Leah Penniman, Co-Founder and Farm Director, Soul Fire Farm; Grafton, New York
Leah Penniman is a farmer, educator, food sovereignty activist, and author of Farming
While Black.
o Suhaly Bautista-Carolina, Herbalist, Founder of Moon Mother Apothecary
Suhaly Bautista-Carolina is an Afro-Dominican herbalist, artist, educator and community
organizer who works at the intersection of plant power and people power.
o Justin Robinson, Ethnobotanist; Durham, North Carolina
Justin Robinson is an ethnobotanist, musician, and historic foodways expert who explores
the ways that foods of the African Diaspora shaped and influenced Southern foodways.
o Joshua Bennett, Ph.D., Poet and Scholar
Joshua Bennett, a professor of English at Dartmouth University, curated NYBG’s 2022
word and sound installation of Black poetry, The Bond of Live Things Everywhere.
Lectures and Symposia
Viewers can enjoy a variety of programs from 2022 that examine culture and identity, including
the vital role of food traditions, especially when cultural heritage or languages have been
prohibited and erased.
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NEW
YORK
BOTANICAL
GARDEN
o Afro-Indigenous Histories of Food and Gardening in the Bronx
Exiled from their Caribbean homeland of Saint Vincent in the late 18th century, Garifuna
Indigenous communities settled around the world. This video features Bronx community
organizer and leading Garifuna culinary expert Isha Sumner and noted scholars of Afro-
Caribbean culture Julie Chun Kim of Fordham University and Christina Welch of
University of Winchester, United Kingdom. Together, they explore and personalize Garifuna
food, knowledge, and uses of plants as defining elements of their culture and identity.
o The Food Dialogues: Matthew Raiford in Conversation with Jessica B. Harris
Matthew Raiford joins NYBG Trustee Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D.—America’s leading
scholar of the food and foodways of the African Diaspora—for an in-depth conversation
covering Raiford’s heritage-based approach to food and farming. After returning to
Georgia and resurrecting his family farm on land his great-great-great grandfather Jupiter
Gilliard began buying after he was emancipated, Raiford is at the center of a community
brought together by the cuisine of his Gullah Geechee heritage.
o Symposium:
A Seat at the Table
Two compelling sessions explore the long, ongoing struggle by Black farmers to acquire
and keep their farms and regain their rightful place in America’s farming history.
“Celebrating the African American Farmer”
Natalie Baszile, author of the 2021 anthology We Are Each Other’s Harvest, joins
NYBG Trustee Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D., America’s leading scholar of the foods and
foodways of the African Diaspora, for a wide-ranging dialogue about the historical
perseverance and resilience of Black farmers and the generations of Black Americans
who continue to farm despite systemic discrimination and land loss.
“Stories from the Farm”
Farmer, urban gardener, food advocate, activist, and NYBG Trustee Karen
Washington moderates a multigenerational panel discussion devoted to stories of
Black farmers from many historical perspectives: North and South, Upstate New York
and the Bronx, sharecroppers to family growers and urban farmers. Panelists include
Gullah Geechee chef and farmer Matthew Raiford and farmer/cultural anthropologist
Gail P. Myers, Ph.D.
o
The Bond of Live Things Everywhere
Symposium
Moderated by poet and scholar Joshua Bennett, Ph.D., this symposium featured a
conversation about the role of Black ecological thought in the panelists’ work and life and
drew from the poems featured in NYBG’s 2022 word and sound installation of Black
poetry, The Bond of Live Things Everywhere. Panelists included Abra Lee, a horticulturist
and author; Aracelis Girmay, a poet and essayist; Leah Penniman, a Black Kreyol
farmer, author, and food justice activist; Sonya Posmentier, Ph.D., an associate professor
of English at New York University; and Terrance Hayes, a poet and professor of English
at New York University.
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NEW
YORK
BOTANICAL
GARDEN
African American Gardens
Supported by generous funding from the Mellon Foundation, The New York Botanical Garden
will plant three African American Gardens between 2022 and 2024, each telling different
stories of the African American experience through plants. All three gardens will be curated by
NYBG Trustee Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D., America’s leading scholar of the food and foodways of
the African Diaspora.
o
African American Garden: Remembrance & Resilience
During NYBG’s spring-summer 2022 exhibition Around the Table: Stories of the Foods We
Love, the Edible Academy was the site of African American Garden: Remembrance &
Resilience, which examined the history of the African American experience in the United
States—telling the story from commodities such as cotton and tobacco that drove the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to staples such as okra and greens that turned up on tables
throughout the country during the Great Migration and beyond.
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African American Garden: The Caribbean Experience
African American Garden: The Caribbean Experience will highlight the plants and
gardening histories that are essential contributions to Caribbean foodways, including those
that have been brought by Caribbean immigrants to the United States. African American
Garden: The Caribbean Experience is scheduled to open on Juneteenth weekend 2023 at
the Edible Academy.
Botanical Legacies
Learn about the contributions of Black scientists to our understanding of the plant world, the
rich legacy of plants and knowledge about their uses that enslaved Africans brought to
America, and other plant stories.
o Cowpeas and the African Diaspora
Enslaved Africans brought the bean known as the cowpea with them to the New World,
where it has become a staple of Southern cuisines and is generally associated with good
luck and New Year’s celebrations. In a series of three informative, wide-ranging Plant Talk
posts, NYBG Associate Curator Benjamin Torke, Ph.D., explores the science and cultural
history of cowpeas and the potential for herbarium specimens to fill in some of the gaps in
that history.
o Focus on Black Botanists
This fascinating series highlights under-recognized Black scientists whose research and
discoveries have contributed to our collective knowledge and understanding of the plant
world.
Marie Clark Taylor—Botanist and Educator:
Find out how to grow cosmos and the other colorful garden annuals that Dr. Taylor, the
first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in science from Fordham University, studied to
understand the impact of light on plant development.
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BOTANICAL
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Thomas Gaither—Activist and Biologist:
Behind each collection is the life of the collector, often lost to history. NYBG is excited
to celebrate the contributions of Dr. Gaither not only through his fungal collections but
also through his advancements in the fight for civil rights.
Lafayette Frederick—Fungal Systematist:
See a type specimen of a fungal species described by Lafayette Frederick, a
mycologist who followed in George Washington Carver’s footsteps to understand and
document all manner of plant pathogens.
Thelma Perry—Mycologist and Teacher:
Discover one of the “hidden figures” of groundbreaking fungal research at the USDA
Forest Service.
Dr. James Still—“Doctor of the Pines”:
The life and legacy of a 19th-century herbalist is recounted.
Mertz Library Book Display
Tuesday–Friday; 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Visitors can explore titles by Black authors at the LuEsther T. Mertz Library.
NYBG Shop
A curated selection of books celebrating Black History Month is available at NYBG Shop
online or at the Garden.
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The New York Botanical Garden is located at 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, New York 10458. For
more information, visit nybg.org
The New York Botanical Garden is located on property owned in full by the City of New York, and its
operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the New York City Department of
Cultural Affairs. A portion of the Garden’s general operating funds is provided by The New York City
Council and The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. The Bronx
Borough President and Bronx elected representatives in the City Council and State Legislature provide
leadership funding.
Media Contacts: Stevenson Swanson, 718.817.8512 or sswanson@nybg.org;
Patricia Sullivan, 718.817.8573 or psullivan@nybg.org
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