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The Battle for Shelton Muhammad’s Family Farm in Southampton County, Virginia: In Memory of Nat Turner
In 2009, we were asked by a Black farmer and his wife if we would consider purchasing their farm in Southampton County, Virginia, historically known as the place where Nat Turner was born, fought, and died to free our people from our former slave masters. At that time, I was working as an assistant principal and pursuing my doctorate in Educational Leadership at Fayetteville State University, and my wife was a nurse who also worked in North Carolina.
Although we had done some gardening in the past, we never had any plans to buy a farm. The family that owned the farm wanted it to stay in the hands of Black people, as it had been for many generations. The fact that the farm had an existing commercial contracted poultry operation suggested that we would have a source of revenue to maintain, sustain, and advance the farm and potentially build generational wealth.