Opinion: The Way Forward in Agriculture Must Include ALL West Virginians

By Deborah Stiles 

Candidate for West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture

Walk along any country road in West Virginia, and the natural world — and its diversity, beauty, colors, and majesty — can be seen. Walk or drive these same places and the marvelous diversity of West Virginians — Indigenous, Black, white, Asian, Mexican, on and on — an also be seen, but that diversity has historically been made invisible by forces readers of BBG are all too familiar with.  

The invisible was made visible, though, by historian Dr. Ancella Radford Bickley. She uncovered the lives and contributions of poet Bessie Woodson Yancey (1882-1958) sister of Carter G. Woodson, organizer Memphis Tennessee Garrison (1890-1988), and rural healer Mary Elizabeth Johnson (1853-1957), who was also known by the name of Mollie Gabe.          

According to Dr. Bickley, Mary Johnson was enslaved at birth in Braxton County and then sold for $650 away from her family into Clay County when she was just four years old.  Her maternal uncle brought her back home, as the family who had purchased her before the Civil War had not informed her at war’s end that she was now free. After her uncle returned her to her family in Braxton County, she lived in Falls Mills, later married Alexander “Gabe” Johnson (hence her nickname of Mollie Gabe), and in later life lived near Sutton. She was a healer, farm laborer, homemaker, midwife, and parent.         

Johnson’s story of rural life in a county where I lived briefly as child — Braxton — is one that I feel is vitally important to all West Virginians, in terms of understanding our collective rural past and the potential of all West Virginians to live lives of self-sufficiency. This would logically include lives that involved agriculture, forestry, and other segments of the rural economy, provided that the forces of racism and sexism are not permitted to have the upper hand.

In certain ways, Mary Elizabeth Johnson’s life story, in its details of her rural working life, resembles the life stories of my Stiles and Spessert ancestors who lived during the same period. But with one important distinction: Mary Elizabeth Johnson’s early life was stolen from her because of white families who practiced enslavement.  One might ask why bring up Johnson’s story. Beyond the fact of Johnson’s story being part of our rural past too often overlooked — even actively discouraged from being shared — my partner and I are rural working-class and working toward self-sufficiency.  Past and present, however, many, many Black families in this state have either lost access or never had full access or control over lands they worked. 

Before retiring, I worked in rural and agriculture policy research, and as a rural studies and humanities professor at Nova Scotia Agricultural College (later, Dalhousie University). While at Marshall University, I studied the work of Zora Neale Hurston, who was a rural writer by birth, but who made her name through New York City’s Harlem Renaissance and her work with Franz Boas. While I had a comprehensive education at Marshall, one that set me up for success in masters and doctorate programs at the University of Maine, I did not know about Mary Elizabeth Johnson, whose working life resembled that of my ancestors and resembles as well the life that I am, in part, living now.  And that is why the story of Mary Elizabeth Johnson is important to me — it is a story of self-sufficiency, and of prevailing.Her story touches me, because the challenges faced by Johnson in the mid-19th and 20th centuries were mountainous compared to those I face as a 21st century white woman. 

On the theme of self-sufficiency, two key issues are clear. First, farmers, large and small, need West Virginia’s arable land protected and to be able to make a profitable living. Second, West Virginians need healthy, affordable, food produced by our farmers to help grow our state’s future by growing our agricultural economy. Vital inroads have been made in addressing food insecurity through, for example, urban agriculture efforts underway by Mary Booker, Robert Haley, Dural Miller, Larry Moore, Reverend Watts, and many, many others in Charleston and elsewhere. BBG’s February issue opened my eyes to how much as yet untapped potential there is in West Virginia’s agriculture economy, and part of that is clearing away barriers and preparing the next generation in the broad and expansive field of agriculture. The historic underfunding of WVSU must be placed high on the priority list of changes that need to be made now to ensure we can grow West Virginia agriculture.

The Commissioner’s job is to protect plant and animal health. There’s also a role for the Commissioner in food safety and human health and nutrition, while also advancing the interests of West Virginia agriculture. That’s what I want to do. What do YOU think should be focused on, to get the job done right? My website will be up in mid-June and continually updated as I learn more. Until then, get in touch, please, by email or phone, and share your ideas on how we can grow West Virginia’s future —this time, including ALL West Virginians.

Deborah Stiles, Democratic candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture.
limestonemtnfarm@gmail.com
681-264-3223
Stiles for WV Agriculture
PO Box 4023, Martinsburg, WV 25402
Let’s Grow West Virginia’s Future!
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/stiles-for-wv-agriculture-1