Join the Flagship, Monument Artist Oni, and the NJMML team, for a special evening of programming that explores the history of Seabrook Farms, agricultural labor, and migration to South Jersey. Flagship presents the stories and perspectives of the descendants of African American, Japanese American, and European workers who came to Seabrook Farms in the 1940s and 1950s, to labor in the processing plant and fields that the company maintained.
Oni will also lead participants in an art and memory reclamation project, focused on Orchard Center. Orchard Center was one of many migrant laborer camps that Seabrook Farms built and managed, enabling it to house thousands of farmworkers who could be employed on short notice during harvest season. Working as they travelled north, Black migrants from Florida and other Southern states arrived in South Jersey beginning in April, and remained until the end of November, when the final spinach crop was picked. Over time, Black migrants to Seabrook also established roots, with many becoming permanent members of the community. Betty Brown-Pitts and Gloria Kates, NJMML community project leaders, will discuss their own experiences growing up at Orchard Center, and the legacies they believe should be honored.
Program to begin at 5PM.
Upper Deerfield Pavilion, 26 Hoover Road, Seabrook, NJ 08302.
By the ball fields behind the Upper Deerfield Township municipal building at 1325 Highway 77, Seabrook, NJ 08302.