We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Ray Berry is the founder of White Lion Brewing Company in Springfield. He was one of the recipients of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts – Massachusetts Next Century Award for 2021. He is a member of the first class of Leadership Pioneer Valley 2011-2012.

RAYMOND BERRY: RENAISSANCE MAN

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!

‘I Wanted To Be On Land’: A Conversation With Urban Farmer Kafi Dixon

Kafi Dixon is a farmer in Boston. A “backhoe-operating, tractor-driving, Hi-Lo-shifting, plant-seed-in-the-ground farmer,” as she puts it.

Dixon founded the Common Good Cooperative, an urban farm in Dorchester where women of color learn about agriculture, entrepreneurship, food sovereignty, and access to green space. Last year, during the pandemic, Dixon’s cooperative grew 500 pounds of produce and donated it to local families and senior living facilities.

Dixon and her work are featured in a new documentary “A Reckoning in Boston,” which premieres in New England on May 7. WBUR spoke with Dixon about the challenges of being a Black farmer, inequity in Boston and the joy of tinkering. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Last year during the pandemic, it was like everyone suddenly discovered the value of green space. But you were way ahead of that game; how did you get started in urban farming?

I started this back in 2015, based on what I knew the women in my community were going through — the women I grew up with in Upham’s Corner and Mattapan and Dorchester.

All of the women I’ve grown up with have lost either sons or their children’s fathers or brothers. And you know, we understood the violence of the city and just continued to exist in it.

But I knew that there were other spaces that were much more peaceful, and I had seen those places, lived on them, worked on them. I had benefited from healthy space and healthy conversations. And what better way to integrate women into self-designed green space that is for their health — mental and physical — than to found an urban farm?

How do you actually start an urban farm in Boston?

You create a cooperative. You know, you may not have the power and privilege of affluent networks, so one of the ways to address the resources that are missing is to come together as the many.

I just realized that a lot of communities around this country — and oddly here in Boston, too — they were designing for rather than with. And you realize that there is not just an inequality, but there’s an inequity in that design.

As much as the city and this region claims to be progressive — or likes to see themselves as progressive — there are still a lot of spaces that are thought of as spaces welcoming to Black women, that by design are not.

Can you give me an example?

Agriculture. Most of those spaces are not reflective of Black women enough for Black women to feel like they’re safe space for them to integrate into. Just look at the city of Boston, right? We can look at whether or not this is the first urban farm founded by a woman of color. Right? We can interrogate that question. We can interrogate how many women of color contractors there are. Right? We can interrogate how many women of color, especially African American women, are homeowners in the city. Right? We can look at diversity in upper management in some of the largest fiber 501(c)(3)’s in Boston. We can look at women of color and startup industries in the city of Boston, and look at the diminishing numbers of women who are in the startup field.

The census says that the African American community is the only demographic that’s being lost in the city of Boston. That’s the federal government saying that there are a people, for whatever reason, that are not existing as a culture in a professed progressive city.

If we are branching out into different spaces, into different sectors, and we don’t have a reflection of our community that’s in those spaces, then you can perceive that as an unwelcoming space. I’m fighting to be in a space that’s no longer integrated for Black women.

Have you always had a knack for farming and growing things?

I wish! I’m a woman with little standard academic education — maybe the eighth grade was the highest grade I completed — which was the reason I became a small business entrepreneur very early. It was because it didn’t require a high school diploma. Right? And nobody questioned my adequacy as far as education.

And I decided to go work on other people’s farms from upstate New York to Virginia to Mississippi. I was working in a very blue collar job, so I would save up my money and I would leave for a month and go work on farms. And then I went through rural farm training and certification.

Wait, you saved up your money and took all your vacation time to work on farms? Most people would save up for, you know, a cruise.

Or a really nice car?

Right! So what drove you spend all your free time working on farms?

I had just decided that I wanted to be on land. And I knew how to grow food. I had run produce markets, but I’d always purchased from somebody else. So who am I not to be able to go grow my own food and sell into markets? So this was, in my mind, my retirement plan.

So, yes, it was something I had to save up for because all business enterprises require a little bit of research — I wanted to make sure that as I was thinking about investing in land that it wasn’t a fantasy, that it was something that I felt capable to do.

How did you finally make the transition to professional farmer?

There’s no such thing as a professional farmer! You can ask any farmer, there’s no such thing.

And I say that because there’s still this burden that I, as a Black woman, carry around, like, “what experience do you have as a farmer?” And that’s used to marginalize people, like, “I don’t think she can do it.” But then we romanticize the failing farming couple, right? The greenhorns of the world, who are out there on land and are not able to survive. Because without question, it was the space and not any question about their aptitude.

But when Black women or men of color — especially here in the Northeast, which is weird — talk about moving into agricultural enterprises we’re put to a test that most people aren’t put through when they decide to, you know, quit graduate school at Harvard and to take a loan out and buy land somewhere in New Hampshire.

What do you like best about faming? 

One of the things that attracts me to agriculture — actually a lot of farmers don’t admit this — but they are low-key tinkerers. Farming and agriculture requires you to be constantly problem-solving. And it’s easier to solve the problem of a tomato hornworm than affordable housing, or Section 8. It’s easier to purchase a high quality packet of nematodes to deal with certain beetles that attack your crops. It’s easier to get your soil tested and to get into the science of weed reduction and land remediation — right? — than it is to look at some of the socially systemic problems that are generational. So, yeah, thinking about agriculture, you know, I’m up for it. It’s easier than the other side of this.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/05/05/urban-farmer-kafi-dixon-a-reckoning-in-boston

Kafi Dixon | Producer of the documentary A Reckoning in Boston

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!

Travis Coe (He/Him/His) has been working with Double Edge Theatre since 2016. He has taken on several roles including actor, solo performer, co-creator, video director, and marketing. Coe pushes his desires and dreams forward unapologetically through work that speaks to his identity, his culture, and his perspective as the youngest member of the DE Ensemble. He created and performed the role of the Hyena in Leonora, la maga y la maestra and premiered his solo performance SUGA in 2019. He also performed in DE’s Fall Spectacle Leonora’s World, and in DE’s recent Summer Spectacles. In addition to directing DE’s documentary filmmaking, he is the head of enrollments and co-leader of Art Justice at DE.

Touring credits include United States of Amnesia (ROOM l 916: NEU/NOW Festival 2015: Amsterdam), Surrounded (Round Room Image: USA/Canada 2014 Tour) and Surrounded 2.0 (Round Room Image: Royal Conservatoire of Scotland & Prague Quadrennial 2015). Coe is a Co-Founder of Round Room Image and received his BA in Acting at Columbia College Chicago.

Travis Coe

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!

By Kerri Lee Alexander, NWHM Fellow | 2018-2019

As a doctor, engineer, and NASA astronaut, Mae Jemison has always reached for the stars. In 1992, Jemison became the first African American woman to travel in space. She has also written several books and appeared on many television programs including an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In addition to her many awards, Jemison has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the International Space Hall of Fame.

Mae Carol Jemison was born on October 17, 1956 in Decatur, Alabama. The youngest of three children, her mother was an elementary school teacher and her father was a maintenance supervisor. A few years after she was born, Jemison and her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. In addition to her love for dance, Jemison knew that she wanted to study science at a very young age. Jemison grew up watching the Apollo airings on TV, but she was often upset that there were no female astronauts. However, Jemison was inspired by African American actress Nichelle Nichols who played Lieutenant Uhura on the Star Trek television show. Jemison was determined to one day travel in space. In 1973, she graduated from Morgan Park High School when she was 16 years old. Once she graduated, Jemison left Chicago to attend Stanford University in California.

As one of the only African American students in her class, Jemison experienced racial discrimination in school. She later served as president of the Black Student Union and choreographed a performing arts production called Out of the Shadows about the African American experience. Jemison graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in African and African-American studies. After graduating from Stanford University, Jemison attended Cornell Medical School. While in medical school, she traveled to Cuba to lead a study for the American Medical Student Association. She also worked at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. Jemison graduated from Cornell with a Doctorate in Medicine in 1981. Shortly after her graduation, she became an intern at the Los Angeles County Medical Center, and then went on to practice general medicine. Fluent in Russian, Japanese and Swahili, Jemison joined the Peace Corps in 1983 and served as a medical officer for two years in Africa.

After working with the Peace Corps, Jemison opened a private practice as a doctor. However, once Sally Ride became the first American woman in space in 1983, Jemison decided to apply to the astronaut program at NASA. She applied in 1985, but after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA took a break from accepting new people. However, Jemison applied again in 1987 and was one of the 15 people chosen out of over 2,000 applications. She was selected for NASA Astronaut Group 12, which was the first group chosen after the Challenger explosion. After being selected, Jemison trained with NASA and worked on projects at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. She received her first mission on September 28, 1989 when she was selected to join the STS-47 crew as a Mission Specialist. On September 12, 1992 Jemison and six other astronauts went into space on the space shuttle Endeavor. This voyage made Jemison the first African American woman in space. The team made 127 orbits around the Earth and returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 20, 1992.

Jemison left NASA in 1993 after serving as an astronaut for six years in total. She started The Jemison Group, a consulting company that encourages science, technology, and social change. She also began teaching environmental studies at Dartmouth College and directed the Jemison Institute for Advancing Technology in Developing Countries. After hearing that she was a fan of the Star Trek television show, actor LeVar Burton asked Jemison to appear in an episode. Jemison agreed and became the first real astronaut to be on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She played Lieutenant Palmer in the episode, “Second Chances.” In 1994, Jemison created an international space camp for students 12-16 years old called The Earth We Share (TEWS). She also created a nonprofit organization called the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence. Jemison later accepted a position as the Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University in 1999. She went on to write her first book in 2001, Find Where the Wind Goes, which was a children’s book about her life.

Currently, Jemison is leading the 100 Year Starship project through the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This project works to make sure human space travel to another star is possible within the next 100 years. She also serves on the Board of Directors for many organizations including; the Kimberly-Clark Corp., Scholastic, Inc., Valspar Corp., Morehouse College, Texas Medical Center, Texas State Product Development and Small Business Incubator, Greater Houston Partnership Disaster Planning and Recovery Task Force, and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. Jemison is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, and has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, National Medical Association Hall of Fame and Texas Science Hall of Fame. She has received multiple awards and honorary degrees including the National Organization for Women’s Intrepid Award and the Kilby Science Award. She currently lives in Houston, Texas.

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mae-jemison

We are highlighting examples of Black excellence every day this February….and beyond! Feel free to send us suggestions!

D. Sean Dukes

Phoenixville, PA — Delmar Sean Dukes lived with reckless abandon and sucked all the juice out of life until his departure from this world on January 10, 2022. Born October 13, 1966 at Walson Army Hospital on Fort Dix, NJ, he was the competitive and over-achieving athlete-scholar in his warrior military (Air Force) family.

He is predeceased by his father, Paul E. Dukes. At his father’s memorial service he told the mourners, “Hey Dad, when I grow up, I want to be just like you. In a world where people say, ‘I don’t want to be anyone’s role model and would I still be your hero, if I never played sports?’ he told us all, “Don’t worry Charles [Barkley] and Mike [Michael Jordan], you never were, my Dad is.”

True to his word, Sean grew up to be like his Dad, his role model and hero, guided by his father’s philosophy:

Make no promises you can’t keep.

If you believe in something; live it.

Never do anything you’ll regret.

Apologize when you mess up.

Death walked with Sean through the course of his young adult life and Death was a constant companion who beat in his chest. Sean received his first heart transplant in 1986 and was able to live his first person singular, active voice, action verb life – well beyond age 19. He found his true love, had children, and he shared his life because someone had given him the gift of a heart. He was the Tin Man rooted with courage through his heart; Sean cherished life through his manner and BEing.

We are forever grateful to the family who gifted their son’s heart that beat steadfastly on until 2009, when Sean received his second heart transplant – another gift of life. The donors have lived on through Sean’s life, works, and deeds.

He continued to live his full life and he leaves behind his devoted wife of 26 years, Allison Barnett Dukes, and the lights of his life: his son, Cameron P. Dukes (25) and daughter, Avery L. Dukes (23). He also leaves behind his dear mother, Valerie J. Brooks, also known in her community as “Miss Val” and the “Flower Lady” (Shelburne, MA) and his Persistent, Charming, and Trickster sister, Cheryl L. Dukes, (Buckland, MA).

Sean lived for his family. Although his career kept him on the road quite often, he was happiest on the couch in his Dad jeans, watching a movie with his family. He put his family first and performed small acts of love each and every day. He was known to leave sweet notes for Allison in her car and on her bathroom mirror; he spent 2 summers with blue toenails, as Avery loved to polish them when she was a little girl. He loved to talk sports, cars, stocks, and work with Cameron. Sean was proud to coach Cameron’s various soccer teams over the years and loved being a “horse dad” for Avery. He delighted in traveling around the country to cheer her on at horse shows. He also supported Allison in all new endeavors she took on, but by far his proudest moments were watching Cameron graduate from the University of Oregon in 2018 and Avery graduate from the University of Southern California in 2021.

Sean received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University and was a proud MIT Sloan Fellow, Class of 2005, where he received his MBA. Sean dedicated 25 years of his career working for Lockheed Martin, where he was a respected colleague and leader. Until 2014, he served as Director – A2100 Spacecraft Modernization Effort, Commercial Ventures, in Newtown, Pennsylvania and then finished his time with LM as Director of Quality & Mission Success, Integrated Fighter Group, in Fort Worth, Texas. He took such pride in building satellites and fighter jets throughout those years and loved pointing to a satellite, jet or tank and telling the kids “I made that.”

Upon his return to Pennsylvania, Sean served as Vice President of Performance Excellence for The Triumph Group in Berwyn, and worked most recently as the Vice President of Operational Excellence for the Platforms and Services sector at BAE Systems. Each of these roles were more than jobs for him; his work was his true passion and he made so many wonderful friends over the years. His hard work and talent were rewarded often; in 1999 he was awarded a Black Engineer of the Year STEM award (1 of 27 professionals recognized nationally for outstanding technical achievement), as well as many Lockheed Martin awards throughout the years. Upon learning of his passing, Sean’s colleagues described him as a “quiet, insightful leader”; “a true leader, manager and friend”; a leader who “made us better.”

Sean’s other passion in life was organ and tissue donation. Affectionately known as the “Tin Man”, Sean received the gift of life in the form of two heart transplants. He received his first in 1986, while a college student, and his second came in 2009. He was strong and stubborn, returning to work afterwards without missing a beat. He was a medal-winning athlete at the National Transplant Olympics in 1991, 1992 and 1994, but was a superstar in all aspects of life. He took great pride in being a part of the Gift of Life Donor Program in Philadelphia, serving as the Vice Chair of the Gift of Life Governing and Medical Advisory Board and the Chair of the Investment Committee on the Board of Directors. Upon his death, he gave the ultimate gift of his corneas, giving 2 people the gift of sight.

Sean was a friend to anyone he met. You could be sure he was the smartest person in any room, but he was humble and unassuming. Usually so calm and serious that when he laughed, it just lit up the room. Sean would stop to help anyone at any time and was a particularly proud supporter of our military. He once gave up his seat in an airplane’s first class so an active Marine could have it in his place; that man gave Sean his Purple heart as a token of gratitude, and Sean cherished it. He was a proud donor to the Bob Woodruff Foundation and other non-profit organizations supporting the military.

There are simply too many stories of kindness and generosity to list. His friends have described him as “a gentle man with a kind heart”; “a true gentleman”; “a genuine person who cared about everyone”; “a legend”; and simply, “The Man.”

In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations may be made in Sean’s memory to Gift of Life Family House, 401 Callowhill St., Philadelphia, PA 19123 or online at www.GiftofLifeFamilyHouse.org

All arrangements are being handled by the R. Strunk Funeral Home. Condolences to his mother, Valerie J. Brooks can be sent to POB 173 Shelburne Falls, MA 01370. Online condolences to his family and a link to Gift of Life can be found at www.rstrunkfuneralhome.com.

It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death — ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible to life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return. One must negotiate this passage as nobly as possible, for the sake of those who are coming after us. (James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time)
Published by Daily Hampshire Gazette on Jan. 26, 2022.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/gazettenet/name/d-dukes-obituary?id=32405056