ROOTED

Changemaker: Brea Baker

Country of Implementation: U.S.A.

SMF WONDER GRANTEE

Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership — is a full-length publishing project to delve into one of the nation’s first sins: stealing and hoarding the land. My maternal family line is from Kentucky by way of Ohio and my paternal family hails from North Carolina as far back as 1800s slavery. The book will use narrative, family anecdotes alongside a historical timeline to demonstrate how land theft has been detrimental in creating and widening the racial wealth gap, privatizing natural resources, and creating a permanent barrier to land that should be a birthright for Black and Indigenous communities. One of the goals in writing this book is to build upon existing debates around reparations and add more color to the ways we discuss race in pre-20th century America.