Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land

In this episode, we reflect on the importance of creating liberatory art and media rooted in oral histories. We explore how to honor our experiences through storytelling that is honest, ethical, and complete in the pursuit of collective liberation. LeeAnn C. Morrissette is a Black southern, multidisciplinary storyteller and cultural worker based on unceded Cusabo land (Charleston, SC). She has created for Oxford American, the Cornucopia Institute, Good Food Jobs, Nonprofit Quarterly, the Stacey Abrams for Governor Campaign, Blavity, Black Girl In Om, Honey Pot Co, The Highland Project, and most recently the National Black Food & Justice Alliance serving as the Director of Communications and Culture. Richie Reseda creates high-quality music, film and fashion that dismantles oppressive narratives and expands love in pop culture through his company Question Culture. He also cofounded and co-directed Success Stories, which is a transformational feminist program for incarcerated  men and was chronicled in the CNN documentary "The Feminist on Cell Block Y". Finally, He organized people who are impacted by mass incarceration to change laws and end it through Initiate Justice. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Watch Richie's film Songs from the Hole and follow him on social media @richiereseda Learn more about LeAnne's work at https://www.lcmorrissette.com/ Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity

In this episode, we root into questions of land, healing, and accountability. We explore how misogynoir shows up in our movement spaces, and how Black men are reimagining their relationships to land, to self, and to each other. Through reflection, care, and vision, we ask: what does it mean to build liberated futures without carrying harm into the soil? Bertram Williams Jr is an actor, voice artist and community advocate with urban agriculture as his medium. Williams is best known for his role as Woddy on Starz record breaking show, P Valley. He is also highly celebrated for his work as co-founder of Memphis based wellness co-op Mama’s Sundry. His latest offering is a collection of audio art including meditations, thought provoking readings, sound bowl activations and affirmations around Black men healing. Farmer D is an Afro-Indigenous farmer, media producer, and educator from New Haven, CT. Through Root Life LLC and Native Praxis LLC, he fuses sustainable agriculture, cultural media, and holistic healing to uplift Black and Brown communities. Root Life cultivates five urban farm plots, leads international retreats, and provides food justice education while training youth in culturally relevant farming practices. Native Praxis documents grassroots movements and eco-cultural projects through organic media storytelling. Together, his work builds community resilience, promotes ancestral knowledge, and inspires global networks dedicated to healing, empowerment, and sustainable systems rooted in Afro-Indigenous traditions.  Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Follow Bertram's work at @bertrambuilds. Find out more about Farmer D's work at https://www.rootlife.org/ or on social media at @root.life Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity

This episode, DEVOTED CREATORSHIP, invites us into a rich exploration of the universal languages that connect us all. We center the essential roles of storytellers, creators, and cultural weavers—those who thread vision into form—as we journey toward land sovereignty and collective liberation. Together, we’ll muse on art as sacred strategy: a vital force that not only stirs the soul, but propels our movements forward—calling us into greater devotion, expansive dreaming, and purposeful action. Naima Penniman is a devotee of seeds, myco-messenger,  multidimensional artist, soulful story teller, movement builder, medicine grower, healer, and educator. Life-long lover and defender of the Earth, Naima dedicates her creativity and community-building skills to regenerate practices towards planetary interdependence. Olka Baldeh is a Fulani storyteller, poet, farmer, bee-tender, herbalist and justice advocate. Olka has spent over a decade fighting against state brutality and advocating for liberatory social change. As a strategist for freedom, Olka uses her skills to uplift communities targeted by state violence, including Black, queer, and non-conforming people. Olka is the co-founder of Birdsong, an emergent radical land project in the south and she is also the founder of the Black Moon Podcast, a powerful platform that explores and interrogates Black death, aiming to transform how Black communities engage with and heal from the trauma of loss. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Find out more about Naima's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com/ and on social media at @naimainfinity Follow Olka's work at @hakkillo. Find out more and support Birdsong here.  Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity

In this episode, NEIGHBORHOOD HEALER, we explore cosmic aligned herbalism. We’re diving deeply into the ways that cosmic patterns inform our relationship to medicine making, bridging heaven and earth -- as well as the ways that our medicine making practices can be rooted in liberation for our communities and sustainability for the land.  Trained in Eastern and Western Herbal Medicine, Master Herbalist, Karen M. Rose created an outlet for her teachings and healing modalities with the opening of Brooklyn-based Sacred Vibes Healing and Sacred Vibes Apothecary in 2002.  Her inspiration for this work began as a child in her native home of Guyana, where she was exposed to how African, Caribbean and Latin American traditions profoundly influenced plant medicine and community healing. The legacy of these lands is the foundation of Karen’s spiritual and healing practice. Yura Sapi is a visionary land steward, artist, and advocate for food sovereignty, blending Afro-Indigenous wisdom with sustainable solutions. As co-founder of Protectores de la Tierra, Yura uplifts Black and Indigenous agricultural traditions in Nuquí, Colombia. A Braiding Seeds Fellow and Echoing Green Fellow, Yura is committed to promoting ancestral knowledge, fostering cycles of harmony, and strengthening intergenerational connections to the land. Their leadership spans cultural resilience, agroecology, and regenerative economies, ensuring that future generations inherit thriving, self-sustaining communities. Yura’s work at Protectores de la Tierra honors the deep relationships between the land, spirit, and collective liberation. With a focus on revitalizing ancestral farming traditions, ensuring food sovereignty through agroecology, lunar-aligned farming, and communal stewardship. They also promote viche production (an ancestral drink, native to the Colombian Pacific, that is made from the juice of sugarcane stalks). Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Find out more about Karen's work at https://www.sacredvibeshealing.com/ and on social media @sacredvibesapothecary Learn more about Yura's work at https://yurasapi.wordpress.com/ on social media at @yurasapi Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity

  This episode, WILD CURRENTS, explores Leah and Patrisse’s personal journeys to living in closer relationship with the Earth, their spiritual practices and how that supports their connection with the land. Patrisse Cullors holds a multitude of well tended gifts as; an abolitionist, artist, and writer who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement. Inspired by the beauty of freedom found in different planes and dimensions, Patrisse Cullors, has long been drawn to the unseen. The art that Cullors is making asks the viewer to witness the whole of their humanity,” Patrisse says Many of the works center around the sword of Oya, the fierce Orisha of transformation and Cullors’ own spiritual guardian, whose machete is embraced as a spiritual emblem of power, protection, and divine justice. Here, Oya's sword transcends its historical significance to address the pressing narrative of our times — the need for protection and reverence for Black women. Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol farmer, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As Co-ED and Farm Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs – including farmer training for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Find out more about Patrisse's work at https://www.patrissecullors.com/ and on social media @osopatrisse Learn more about Leah's work at https://www.farmingwhileblack.org/ and on social media at @leahpenniman Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity

In this episode, we discuss role of imagination in the movement toward land sovereignty and liberation with adrienne maree brown and Ayo Ngozi. adrienne maree brown (she/they) is growing a garden of healing ideas. Informed by decades of movement facilitation, somatics, science fiction scholarship and doula work, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Loving Correction as ideas and practices for transformation. Soul Fire alum Ayo Ngozi has worked as a community herbalist for over a decade, with a practice that centers the land, the community, Spirit, and ancestral ways of being. Ayo has co-created several projects, including Planting Reparations, Black Mystery School (an Afrofuturist learning community dedicated to liberatory healing, knowledge and practice), and most recently, Brickyard Gardens Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Find out more about adrienne's work at https://adriennemareebrown.net/ and on social media @adriennemareebrown Follow Ayo's work at @ayo.herbalist and @brickyardgardens.savannah on instagram Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity

In this episode, we explore stewarding land with indigenous wisdom in the modern day, merging ancient ancestral practices with emerging technologies with Joshua Kwaku Asiedu and Bailey Hutchison. Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Joshua Kwaku Asiedu is the son of an Akwapim-Ghanaian father and a Neapolitan-Italian mother. He never felt at ease in the materialistic, consumerist, and Eurocentric environment of his upbringing. After seven years of profound and transformative experiences—exploring both modern and remote corners of the world, and living within a diverse range of social settings, families, indigenous communities, and environments—Joshua concluded that the modern Western world, with its focus on materialism, consumerism, and superficiality, is increasingly disconnected from Mother Nature, the true source of independence, freedom, and inner growth. As a third-generation grower and herbalist, Bailey Hutchison specializes in Afro-Indigenous ethnobotany—the study of traditions and customs surrounding plants and their roles in medical, religious, and spiritual contexts. To deepen her ancestral understanding, she embarked on a three-year immersive journey, conducting independent studies in Trinidad and Tobago. As the founder of TruCulture Community Market, she is dedicated to imparting invaluable Black agrarian skills, ethnobotanical knowledge, and the ancient art of herbal healing within her community. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Find out more about Joshua's work at https://www.asaase.net/ and on social media @learntolive_learntolive Follow Bailey's work at @truculturecommunity on instagram Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity Notes: Joshua mentions the healer Malidoma Patrice Somé, author of The Healing Wisdom of Africa and Of Water and the Spirit.    

In this episode, we explore the longing, grief, and depth of connection felt between the global majority and the ancestral lands we’ve been separated from, and the personal ways we’ve reclaimed, preserved, and deepened our connection to our homelands with Junauda Petrus and Ysanet Batista. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is a series, rich in storytelling, history, and ritual, in which we explore what it means to be sovereign. With Black land at the center, this podcast brings together prominent activists, artists, and weavers with the rising generation of Black land stewards for inspiring conversations that honor the past and create blueprints for the future. This podcast is hosted by Crysta Bloom and Clara AgborTabi, and co-produced by Crysta Bloom and Zera Bloom. Our theme music is created by Naima Penniman and Zera Bloom. Our artwork and graphics is created by Crysta Bloom. Sovereign: Reclaiming Black Land is presented by Soul Fire Farm. Find out more about Junauda's work at https://www.junauda.com/ and on social media @junauda Follow Ysanet's work at https://ysanetbatista.com/ and on social media @ysanetbatistavargas Find Soul Fire Farm at https://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and on social media @soulfirefarm Follow Crysta Bloom's work at https://www.embodiedbloom.com/ and on social media @crystaembodiedbloom Follow zera bloom on social media at @zera.bloom Learn more about Naima Penniman's work at https://www.naimainfinity.com and on social media at @naimainfinity