Pattern and Practice in Traditional African-American Gardens in Rural Georgia

Abstract

The gardens and yards of black families in the South provided African-Americans with one of their earliest opportunities to express themselves freely in a material way and to establish a level of self-sufficiency that was crucial after Reconstruction. This study describes traditional functions, patterns, and practices of gardening in an area of the Southern Piedmont and attempts to show how African-Americans have assimilated cultural and environmental influences and technological change in their gardens and yards. The gardens and gardening practices of seventeen black families in one rural county (Oglethorpe) of Georgia were surveyed and recorded. These were compared with descriptions of 19th and early 20th century gardens. Changes in the functions, patterns, and practices of gardening lead to conclusions about the changing role and image of the garden.