Dine Diaspora, a Washington, D.C.-based food and beverage agency, announced its sixth annual “Black Women in Food” awardees March 1, 2023. And I made it into this number. Out of more than 600 nominees, the agency included me as one of 31 honorees. Dine Diaspora selects honorees from a public nomination process reviewed by expert judges. The awards celebrate exceptional contributions to the food system and Black women around the world who contribute to this historical establishment.

This one farmstead structure stands frail. Debilitated by Mother Nature’s handiwork. Evident from its hind side. Barnwood craftsmanship currently exposed and splintered. Where livestock, hay bales and farming equipment once depended on the handmade frame for shelter in the early 20th century.

She ushers God into any conversation. In front of anybody. For any reason. Her 5-foot-9-inch existence lives for Him. She testifies His greatness in good and bad times. In a bereavement season, she amplifies His grace. Cleaving His name to her chest. Evident by the way she naturally consoles those who have lost all hope.

Each hails from the Black Belt Region — demarcated by its crescent geographic profile. Stretching from Eastern Texas to the Eastern shore of Virginia. A territory historically known for the “lack of” is called home. Systemic disparities have prevailed since slavery. The Old Confederacy days. In education. Health care. Technology. Infrastructure. Black land ownership. And economic development opportunities.

Enslaved African-American people assigned them as “hush harbors.” Informal meeting spaces. Swamps, ravines, gullies and woodlands to congregate and worship secretly in the South. These unofficial locations eventually operated as planning posts for Black farmers of the Reconstruction period onward. Since sharecropping merely replaced slavery, Black churches, crib barns and bermudagrass fields became updated versions of hush harbors. Grounds to organize. Discuss land independence. Strategize to preserve family legacy.

She sashays into the dirt-filled arena. Flanked by young, black cowboys Devinn Jordan, 26, and Mazi Willis, 24, atop stately steeds, veteran rapper and singer Khia Thug Misses hikes up the front of her black, ruffled Western dress. She gives a little leg. Props a hand on her hip.