Subscribe to 2019 Civil Rights Project at SBP
This past Thursday (May 17), Bowen Flowers, a farmer with around 17,000 acres of land, was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to host us on his farm. It was an enlightening experience for a few reasons. When thinking of a farm, usually think of something that is more old-fashioned or archaic; however, I was surprised to see how technological savvy it was. The apps and devices used to keep track of the crops and machinery was very cool to say the least. On another note, the experience was enlightening because I was able to get some insight into what it was like being a worker on a farm. Mr. Flowers paired each student on the project with a tractor driver with whom we were able to ride and converse with. My tractor driver didn’t hesitate to begin discussing the hardships he had due to his environment.
Being a Selma, Alabama native, he explained that due to lack of proper education and opportunity he really didn’t have any options in his career path and that he’d been working on fields as soon as he got out of school. He explained that is work was similar to a seasonal job because apart from the times for planting and harvesting, he wasn’t really working on the fields. Some of the other tractor drivers explained that they spend the months between planting and harvesting as time to do maintenance on their machines. I realize that formal segregation ended years ago, but to me, the tractor driver visualizes the long term effects of segregation and shows that while segregation ended 50 years ago, it affects people to this day. His lack of opportunity made me reflect and much more grateful for my own.
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