"Blacks Living Green"

Who said blacks aren’t interested in “green”? Michelle Obama is planting a vegetable garden at the White House, and Sharon T. Freeman, author of the myth-bursting book, “Blacks Living Green” will be in Memphis Apr. 9th to recognize 10 local “green” role models. You’re invited. Click “read more” to get the details.


Location: Caritas Village at 2509 Harvard (corner of Merton)

Date & Time: Apr. 9 at 7 pm

Keynote speaker: Sharon T. Freeman, PhD, lives in Washington, DC. where she has worked as an Economic Development Specialist helping developing countries around the world for the past 35 years . She has been a consultant and Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Trade representative, and a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Corps. Today she has turned her attention to the state of Black America in urban areas. She quickly tears down stereotypes and dispels myths that depict African Americans as uninterested in green issues and environmental matters.

Award recipients:
Sandra Upchurch, High School Teacher Extraordinaire & Industrial Chemist
Frank D. Robinson, Reclaimed Materials Artist
Hazel Burks, Health & Wellness Expert
Rev. Ralph White, Environmental Justice Activist & Pastor of Bloomfield Baptist Church
Andree Glenn, Co-Founder of Neighbors for Trees
Dr. Stanley Abell, LeMoyne - Owen College Professor & Ecological Society of America Member
Pearlie Estes Master Gardener & Owner of Day Lilies Plus Nursery
Shawn Posey Urban Forester, Department of Agriculture
Calvin Robinson, Fuller State Park Manager
Plus a surprise recipient

Sponsors: Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program, Chickasaw Group and Caritas Village

And on the national scene: Michelle Obama has dug up a patch of the South Lawn to plant a vegetable garden, the first at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets — the president does not like them — but arugula will make the cut.
Click here to see which other presidents have had vegetable gardens at the White House.