Jim Embry | |
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| Born |
James Gilbert Embry
April 23, 1949 Richmond, Kentucky
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| Occupation(s) | Educator, farmer, eco-activist, public speaker |
| Website | http://sustainlex.org |
Jim Embry (born James Gilbert Embry; April 23, 1949, in Richmond, Kentucky) is a lifelong civil rights activist, eco-activist farmer, social justice advocate, educator, public speaker, photographer, scuba diver, writer. He is active in the local food and sustainable agriculture movement. In 2006, he founded the Sustainable Communities Network. Embry is the Director of the Sustainable Communities Network. He has over 50 years of experience as a social activist.
Embry sees himself as stardust in human form representing billions of years of the Earth's evolution.
Early life
Embry comes from an African American activist family. He is the grandson of, and great-grandson of farmers and community activist. His ancestors were enslaved Africans that were brought to Kentucky in the 1800s.
In April 1968, Embry attended Dr. Martin Luther King's funeral and served as funeral marshall.
Education
1974 - Zoology Bachelor of Science University of Kentucky Education
Career
In 1964, as a teenager Embry attended the march on Frankfort, Kentucky, a call for legislation to discrimination, and segregation. The March was on March 5, 1964. It was an interracial protest with around 10,000 Kentuckians. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jackie Robinson participated. Civil Rights activists folk singers Peter, Paul, and Mary participated.
In 1967, he attended the University of Kentucky. While attending the University of Kentucky he was involved with the Black Student Union. He participated in what was called "bitch-ins". Embry says the "bitch-ins" gatherings were where students met and had discussions issues such as the Vietnam War and the killings in Cambodia. They had a student newspaper 'the Kentucky Kernel that published articles. In a 1978, oral history interview he mentioned that at the Black Student gatherings they talked about student representation on the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees. He mentioned also that they also advocated for the banning of the song "Dixie" from being played at football games, and other campus events. Embry states that the Black Student Union activities occurred during the Civil Rights and Black power movements that were happening in United States of America.
In 2001, Embry moved to Detroit to be the Director of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership. In Detroit his work included urban agriculture, and food justice.
In 2018, a founding member of the worker co-operative Wild Fig Bookstore.
Embry's work is local, national, and International in advocating for sustainable communities. He participates in international forums such as World Social Forum, Italy for five Terra Madre/International Slow Food Gatherings as a six-time USA delegate.
Embry studied organic farming in Cuba.
Embry is a member of the Black Farmers and Urban Growers conference. He is the state governor of Slow Food USA for Kentucky chapters. He is a member of Black Soil, Good Foods Cooperative, and other food justice organizations. As a writer and photographer Embry has contributed articles contributed articles and photographs to 'We Are Each Other's Harvest', Sustainable World Source Book, Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky, Kentucky African American Encyclopedia, Latino Studies, Biodynamics Journal, African American Heritage Guide, Stella Natura, and other publications.
Embry's photographs have appeared in exhibitions, in books, hospitals, galleries, and magazines.
Awards
- 2009 Chrysalis House Outstanding Service award, women healing from drug abuse
- 2014 Environmental Commission award for garden project for women experiencing domestic violence
- 2018 Honored at the North American Association for Environmental Education Conference (NAAEE) the Rosa Parks and Grace Lee Boggs Award for leadership in environmental justice, ecological education and advocacy.
- 2018 Snail Blazer Award Slow Food Nations
- Audrey Grevious Award by Carter G. Woodson Academy
- 2023 James Beard Leadership Awards
External links
- "Jim Embry interview". PBS.
- "Interview with James Embry". Kentucky Oral History. October 22, 2021.
- "Oral History interview with Jim Embry". Kentucky Oral History. November 14, 1978.
- "Interview with Jim Embry". Nunn Center. December 21, 2018.
- Community Gardens with Jim Embry on YouTube
- "Jim Embry-Interview Sustainable Communities Network". WXXI-TV. 2023-04-16.
See also
- "Dr. George Washington Carver & the Food and Environmental Justice Movement". Food Justice Exhibit at WVU.
- "Ancestral Vibrations Guide our Connection to the Land". -Searchworks.
- "The Relevance of the Legacy of George Washington Carver". Political Ecology.