This week, Cultivating Place Guest Host Abra Lee is in conversation with Reverend Jerri Mitchell-Lee. They enjoy a deep dive into the history of Effie Lee Newsome, another highly respected writer - and gardener - of the Harlem Renaissance. Reverend Mitchell-Lee shares more about this undersung American literary and garden figure from her unique familial perspective: Effie is her beloved great AUNT!!!
Reverend Mitchell-Lee is an accomplished writer, author, and businesswoman. She has a passion for serving and continues to do so as a health educator, mental health counselor, and workshop trainer. She received her education at Sterling College, University of Kansas, Rutgers University of Medicine and Dentistry, Howard School of Theology, and Newark School of Theology.
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and W.E.B. Dubois are some of the many recognizable names of an intellectual, cultural, and artistic period in American history known as the Harlem Renaissance. Effie Lee Newsome was a quintessential multi-hyphenate. She was an artist, nature writer, gardener, author, naturalist, birder, and favorite poet of the Harlem Renaissance elite. Through her children’s book, Gladiola Garden: Poems of Outdoors and Indoors (The Associated Publishers, 1940), she became a powerful piece in the puzzle of not only the Harlem Renaissance but also American garden history. In June of 2022, a class of Landscape Architecture Students from Auburn University used the poetry and plants of Effie Lee Newsome as their inspiration for an award-winning display garden at the Philadelphia Flower Show.
"Wise black-eyed Susan in the valley,
I've got something you shall hear.
If you can reach up on tiptoe
I'll whisper in your ear.
I love your deep, dark eyes,
Because my own are dark.
I like your golden face,
Gay as the firefly's spark."
-Effie Lee Newsome
Newsome’s 1941 book, “Gladiola Garden,” was a groundbreaking body of work and the first book of nature poetry written for black children. It has been described as having the ability to “…stir the deepest feelings of worship, admiration, and love” by famed Harlem Renaissance writer Georgia Douglas Johnson.
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All photos courtesy of Reverend Mitchell-Lee, Conquer the Soil, Jennifer Jewell, and open source - all rights reserved.
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Jennifer Williams of Wild Dreams Farm and Seed on Washington’s Vashon Island. That's right here, next week.
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Thinking out loud this week...
Hey y’all it's Abra,
From being a municipal arborist to working as an airport landscape manager and my most current role as Director of Horticulture at Oakland Cemetery a vibrant Victorian garden cemetery and public park in downtown Atlanta, I have had a colorful journey in the world of horticulture for over 20 years.
My most passionate work is as a writer, speaker, and scholar of black garden history in the United States. I work nationally with many cultural institutions where I share my research through speaking engagements and exhibitions. I am currently working on my book, “Conquer the Soil” which is a collection of profiles of American garden greats, similar to the story you heard today.
I would love for you to come out and visit Oakland Cemetery in downtown Atlanta. Oakland Cemetery depends on the financial support of generous listeners like you to allow us to continue serving our community, please consider
contributing at OaklandCemetery.com/donate.
My takeaway this week from my conversation with Jerri is to really remember to spend time with the elders in your family. I recently heard them called “seasoned citizens” and I just love that title! Another is, how knowing the journey of your family's history can open new portals of thought and inspiration in our own lives.
Jerri’s connection with her great Aunt Effie Lee Newsome not only afforded her a personal relationship but also gave her the generational knowledge passed down to her on American gardening, something she holds near and dear to her heart today.
It's hard to know who you are if you don’t know where you came from, so I encourage you as our listeners to talk to your family, learn your history and spread that culture and knowledge to future generations.
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