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Detroit photojournalist brings plight of black farmers to light in MONA exhibit

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

By JAMES HAWKINS
Special to The Oakland Press

People often strive to live the American “dream,” yet according to photographer Jeffrey Sauger, such a lifestyle eludes black farmers throughout the nation.

As if losing land at a rate three times faster than the national average wasn’t enough, he says, black farmers continue to face institutional racism, bankruptcy and foreclosures that are prying their families from farms they’ve occupied for generations. Many of these farmers need a second job just to get by.

To illustrate this dwindling population’s endeavors in today’s society, the Museum of New Art in Pontiac will host “Where Furrows Run Deep,” a photojournalistic documentary by the Detroit-based Sauger, which opens Saturday, June 19 at the Museum of New Art (MONA).

“This is high quality, professional art in itself but at the same time, it’s documentary photography, which you don’t see much outside of magazines and newspapers - and even there, less and less,” said Jef Bourgeau, director of MONA. “It’s a narrative and it tells a story within itself. Not in just one picture, but a whole grouping of these smaller stories.”

A Central Michigan University graduate, Sauger began the farmers’ untold story in 1999 while he was working on his master’s degree in photojournalism at Ohio University.

“I had a picture story class where I had to propose four stories to the class. It was Thanksgiving time so I thought I’ll do a turkey farm, but let’s put a spin on the cliché turkey farm story,” Sauger explained. “I found a free range organic poultry farmer who was doing a workshop for minority farmers on how to turn their poultry into free range. Those were the very first black farmers I ever photographed that weekend.”

From that point, Sauger incorporated the black farmers in the rest of his classes, but it wasn’t until he did more research that he took his project to the next level.

"The most prominent piece of research was the Pigford v. Glickman class action lawsuit in 1997 against the United States Department of Agriculture for discriminatory loan practices."

In 1999, the lawsuit was settled, but 40 percent of black farmers haven’t seen a dime from that settlement, Sauger said.

“The numbers really compelled me to dive into the subject matter. In 1920, there were over a million black farmers who owned land. Now there’s less than 18,000,” Sauger added. “Around 1999, black farmers were going out of business 3-to-1 compared to white farmers. So it didn’t take long to figure out that they’re going to go extinct.”

In May 2001, Sauger packed up his Jeep and traveled through Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina visiting farmers he had made contacts with; photographing every moment in black and white film for a reason.

“Black and white film truly is archival. I wanted this to be a visual historic document and something that after I’m gone, somebody has this somewhere,” Sauger said. “(The farmers) are practicing a craft that’s going by the wayside, and that’s the same thing with black and white photography. It just works with the subject matter.”

Sauger hopes his exhibit will educate viewers about this subculture that’s disappearing within society and the different forms of racism black farmers still encounter.

Bourgeau added that the exhibit embodies significant importance to the black community because it will help “understand where they’ve been — from a piece of property themselves to being able to own property to what’s happened to them along the way and what’s happening to them now.”

Although he is not finished with his 10-year-old project, Sauger said he felt it was time that such a topic received exposure.

“It’s a hard way of life, and it’s always been an American way of life: but one we’re quickly losing. It’s important that someone is documenting what’s still here,” Bourgeau said.

If you go:

Jeffrey Sauger’s “Where Furrows Run Deep” exhibit will open with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 19, at the Museum of New Art (MONA), 7 N. Saginaw St., in Pontiac along with five other exhibits. The exhibit will run through July 17 from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Both the opening reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.

For more information, visit www.detroitmona.com