Presentation
The migration of rice from the perspective of African slaves
Rice is considered to be Asian. But rice is just as African as it is Asian. JJ Johnson will be deepening our knowledge of this and how it is treated.
Oryza glaberrima, usually known as African rice, was first grown in the Inner Delta of the Upper River Niger, when the Sahara was drying up. With the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Africans took this knowledge with them to the West, and rice dominated the United States, especially South Carolina, for two hundred years. When black culture emigrated to the North, Harlem became its capital: a Mecca where they could preserve black traditions and defend human rights.
With JJ Johnson we will learn how rice culture has impacted black culture while we track its roots from Africa and the Caribbean to the South of America.
