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The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership
by Brea Baker
Why is less than 1% of rural land in the U.S. owned by Black people? An acclaimed writer and activist explores the impact of land theft and violent displacement on racial wealth gaps, arguing that justice stems from the literal roots of the earth.
To understand the contemporary racial wealth gap, we must first unpack the historic attacks on Indigenous and Black land ownership. From the moment that colonizers set foot on Virginian soil, a centuries-long war was waged, resulting in an existential dilemma: Who owns what on stolen land? Who owns what with stolen labor? To answer these questions, we must confront one of this nation's first sins: stealing, hoarding, and commodifying the land.
Research suggests that between 1910 and 1997, Black Americans lost about 90% of their farmland. Land theft widened the racial wealth gap, privatized natural resources, and created a permanent barrier to access that should be a birthright for Black and Indigenous communities. Rooted traces the experiences of Brea Baker's family history of devastating land loss in Kentucky and North Carolina, identifying such violence as the root of persistent inequality in this country. Ultimately, her grandparents' commitment to Black land ownership resulted in the Bakers Acres—a haven for the family where they are sustained by the land, surrounded by love, and wholly free.
A testament to the Black farmers who dreamed of feeding, housing, and tending to their communities, Rooted bears witness to their commitment to freedom and reciprocal care for the land. By returning equity to a dispossessed people, we can heal both the land and our nation's soul.
"In her vigorous debut history ... [Baker] writes evocatively about Black farmers' relationship with the land and argues passionately for Black Americans to return to family farms (she's unabashedly utopian on this point, and her frustration with Black people uninterested in rural life is palpable). Baker keeps tightly focused on the topic and writes in a conversational prose that casually draws on a wide range of thinkers. Educators in particular will find this invaluable." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A passionate, engaging combination of history, memoir, and examination of income inequality." —Kirkus Reviews
"Readers interested in a broad interpretive sketch of dispossessive effects of colonization, enslavement and its aftermath may be drawn to Baker's personalized recounting of the continuing significance of Black people's efforts to realize the dream of owning land and the profits it produces." —Library Journal
"With Rooted, Brea Baker takes us on an inspiring journey through the complexities of identity, the modern movement for Black land ownership, and the pursuit of belonging. With heartfelt prose and unyielding honesty, Baker explores the depths of her roots and invites readers to reflect on our own." —Donovan X. Ramsey, author of the National Book Award for Nonfiction semi-finalist When Crack Was King
"Brea Baker's Rooted is a moving, insightful, and intimate account of the history of Black land ownership and land theft in the United States. It is a must-read for anyone interested in advancing racial justice and equity." —Keisha N. Blain, co-editor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Four Hundred Souls
"Brea Baker roots her own family history in the long and often violent story of American land theft and land possession. Rooted details the plight and promise of Black American land ownership through time. This is a crucial and compelling study of race and wealth in America." —Camille T. Dungy, author of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden
This information about Rooted was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Brea Baker has been working on the front lines for more than a decade. She believes deeply in nuanced storytelling and Black culture to drive change, and she has commented on race, gender, and sexuality for Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Refinery29, Them, and more. Her writing has been featured in the anthologies Our History Has Always Been Contraband and No Justice, No Peace. A Yale alumna, Baker has been recognized as a 2017 Glamour Woman of the Year, a 2019 i-D Up + Rising, and a 2023 Creative Capital awardee. She has spoken at the United Nations' Girl Up Initiative, Yale Law School, the Youth to Youth Summit in Hong Kong, the Museum of the City of New York, and elsewhere.
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