The Greene County Democrat

Tag: Estelle Witherspoon Lifetime Achievement Award Dinner

  • Federation holds 58th Annual Meeting

    Phylicia Rashard receives award at the Federation meeting and Cornelius Blanding addresses membership at the 58th Annual Meeting.

      The Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund held its 58th Annual Meeting, on the weekend of August 14-16, 2025. Over 400 people from the membership and guests registered and attended both parts of the meeting.
    The first part was the 24th annual Estelle Witherspoon Lifetime Achievement Award Dinner, held in Birmingham, to honor the legacy of the woman who served as the initial manager of the Freedom Quilting Bee and founding board member of the Federation. Phylicia Rashard, a stage and TV actress, most famous for her role as Claire Huxtable in the Cosby show, was honored with the Witherspoon Award.
    In her acceptance remarks, Rashard said she was “a person of the earth, like the Black farmers in the Federation. I remember going to visit my grandparents in Louisiana and South Carolina as a child observing them engaging with the land. This helped form the core of my artistic experience. I am a person of the earth, and I carry those experiences with me, wherever I go in life.”
    On Friday and Saturday, the meeting moved to the Federation’s Rural Training and Research Center between Epes and Gainesville in Sumter County. The same large crowd followed the program to its rural base.
    On Fridays, there usually is a panel of USDA program officials, who explain the latest changes and developments in Federal small agriculture programs, however this year the Trump Administration is still deliberating over whether the Federation’s mission of ‘cooperative development, upholding Black land ownership and advocacy for public policies benefiting small farmers and rural
    communities’ is in compliance with the President’s Executive Order banning Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
    In place of the USDA panels, the Federation had a panel on its own program initiatives and workshops on heirs property, forestry an agroforestry, as well as cooperative development
    The Federation’s Memorial Legacy Committee made a presentation on its plans and the development of a master plan for the Memorial Legacy Park, a living memorial of nature trails, gardens, orchards, outdoor classrooms, a remembrance wall, gazebos and other places for small groups to gather, cabins, fishing piers and other places for people to meet, learn, relax, renew and rejuvenate. The Committee suggested ways the membership could participate and support the project.
    On Saturday, there was a Prayer Breakfast featuring Rev. Wendell Paris of Jackson, Mississippi as the spiritual speaker and a best hat contest, honoring the late Mattie Mack, Kentucky Board Member, who always wore special decorative hats to the Federation’s Annual Meeting and Prayer Breakfast.
    At the annual Federation membership business meeting, Shirley Blakely, Chairperson gave some comments and Carrie Fulghum, Treasurer gave some financial data. Blakely introduced and praised Executive Director, Cornelius Blanding, who gave a more detailed report on the work of the Federation.
    In his report, Blanding said the Federation had grown to have $14.5 million in assets and had substantially reduced debts, despite loosing over $17.5 in Federal contracts because of USDA concerns about ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ in Federal contracts. He said, “We are working to assure every farmer gets an official USDA farm number, to enable them to access USDA programs. We want each farm family to have a feasible farm plan and every co-op to have a business plan built from those farm plans. Every landowner, we work with to have an estate plan and a plan to work out any heir’s property problems that they may have,
    Blanding concluded by saying, “The Federation shows the extraordinary things that ordinary people can do – when they work together cooperatively.”
    For more information on the vision, work and programs of the Federation, contact their website at: http://www.federation.coop.

  • Federation of Southern Cooperatives/ Land Assistance Fund holds 52nd Annual Meeting

    Jonathan Jackson receiving the Estelle
    Witherspoon Lifetime Achievement Award and
    Cornelius Blanding FSC/ LAF Executive Director
    Co-op members voting with paddles, for each dues paying co-op, at FSC
    Annual Meeting.
    At FSC Annual meeting Pamela Madzima, Alabama State Association Coordinator, assisted by Briar Blakley, distributes seven $1,000 college scholarships, named for Anulet “Pat” Jackson and supported by Sharing, Inc.

    The Federation of Southern Cooperatives held its 52nd. Annual Meeting this past weekend in Birmingham and Epes, Alabama. The meeting was attended by 400 or more cooperative members, government officials and other guests.
    The 52nd celebration began with the Estelle Witherspoon Lifetime Achievement Award Dinner at the BJCC in Birmingham. The award is named for Mrs. Witherspoon, a founding member of the Federation, who served for many years as Manager of the Freedom Quilting Bee in Alberta, Alabama (Wilcox County) and promoted the civil rights and economic justice movements among Black and poor people in her community.
    The Federation’s Board of Directors designated Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, President of PUSH/Rainbow Coalition, who has a long history of working with the Federation, as this year’s award recipient. Due to health concerns, Rev. Jackson was unable to attend the dinner but sent his son Jonathan Jackson to represent him at the dinner.
    Jonathan Jackson, who is an officer of PUSH in Chicago, accepted the award for his father and praised the work of the Federation in raising issues connected by Black farmers and the loss of Black land ownership over the years.

    Jonathan told a story about his son in elementary school telling other students that a photo on the wall was his grandfather. The other students did not believe him but he came back the next day and asked them where was their grandfather’s picture because he knew his grandfather was on the wall.
    Jackson used this story to ask the banquet audience, “What have you done to advance the society; what have you done to make this a more peaceful and harmonious world.”
    The meeting continued on Friday and Saturday at the Federation’s Rural Training and Research Center, near Epes, Alabama. Friday morning included a workshop on the resources available from USDA agencies, available to Black farmers and other historically disadvantaged and underserved farmers and landowners, across the nation and in communities around the South in the Federation’s membership territory.
    Among the USDA agencies represented on the panel were the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Farm Service Agency (FSC), Forest Service, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Office of Public and Faith Partnerships (Section 2501 Program), Risk Management Agency (RMA) and others. The panel was followed by almost an hour of questions from farmers and rural advocates in the audience.
    Friday afternoon was filled with concurrent workshops on Land Retention, Heirs Property, Cooperative Development, joint agricultural marketing, safe handling of agricultural produce and Credit Union Development. A forestry tour of the timber resources on the land surrounding the Rural Training Center was also held. These workshops were followed by a delicious fish fry and an active auction of co-op products and contributed items, including a one-year subscription to the Greene County Democrat provided by the Co-Publishers of this newspaper.
    Saturday morning began with a spirited and spiritual prayer breakfast featuring a special sermon on “God is able” by Rev. Wendell H. Paris of the New Hope Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi and a former staff member of the Federation.
    The remainder of Saturday was a business meeting of the Federation’s cooperative membership who heard reports of the programmatic and financial status of the Federation. Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director gave his Management and Stewardship Report suggesting the need for some by-law changes. The membership, divided into state caucuses to discuss by-law changes and updates. The membership voted to increase cooperative dues from $250 to $300 per year and individual membership fees from $25 to $50 per year.
    For more information on the Federation or to purchase an individual membership or to make a general contribution to support the work of the Federation, go to the organization’s website at: http://www.federation.coop.