Homesteading Demographics

[Timberline]

Please, no one take this as a racial post, not meant to be at all, just curiosity.

Does anyone have any idea of the racial demographics as applied to homesteaders? Seem to me to be predominatley white. If so, any ideas why?

Maybe a poll on this board, if it didn't turn into a racial slight against anyone, would be interesting.

Sorry if this has been discussed earlier, I didn't find another post about it.

[RichieC]

I agree that self-identified "homesteaders" are mostly white.

I have a theory about why, not racial but also unlikely to be popular on this site, so I'll pass.

[Liese]

Heard a very interesting interview on NPR the week before last...apparently after WW2, as the burb's were being developed and rural areas changed the FHA made 1, that's 1 loan to an African American family out of 770,0000 loans. Mixed neighborhoods were not to be considered. Of course you start getting down here and farther south lots of farming done by a wide variety of people...to the betterment of all.

[DocM]

Through central washington, down the willamette valley of Oregon, and into california, there are many hispanic farm owners. They'd be considered "white", but demographically speaking, not represented as "homesteaders", although they probably qualify as such.

[Jim S.]

I'd also ask that this please not be taken the wrong way, but aspects of the homesteading movement have a "pointy headed intellectual" air about them, to borrow a phrase from the late Gov. George Wallace.

In many cases, self-described homesteaders are people who are totally clueless to the ways and hardships of the country life but have some romanticized ideal about it all, going out and trying to make their way in it. In the more tragic of those cases, those folks choose to resist the hard-earned wisdom of their neighbors and instead forge their own hardheaded way, seen as bizarre by the locals, and often ending when they succumb to it all in a few years, sell their land with the yurt or whatever on it, and head back to the city.

Yet there are thousands of black families in the Black Belt of Alabama (named after it's soils), for just one example, who are homesteading in every intellectual sense of the word, but they don't have puters -- and they are either barely, or are not, high school educated. Yet they live by what they rend from the land, probably moreso than those self-described white homesteaders who simply retired to the lifestyle after striking it rich somehow, and thus have a cushion to fall back on. By virtue of their poverty, these black families are not huge contributors to the waste stream, either.

So when the intellectualism of the concept is ripped off, that's when the toothless old man who's seen in town twice a year begins to make sense as he speaks of how he survives out there in the boondocks using his wits alone. That advice should not be turned down.

I know many starry-eyed dreamers out in the countryside who are friends, but I cannot help but shake my head when I see them eschew proven country methods that will work to put food on their tables or get their working farm projects done, only because they are instead pursuing some wild-eyed idealistic vision they got out of some "back to the land" book.

Dude, if there's not enough deadfall wood on your place, you need to cut some live trees if you're going to have wood for winter heat. Feed your stomach first, so you'll have fuel for your mind next. And etc.

This is not to disparage the movement or the efforts of folks to get back to a closeness with the land. But as DW often points out to me in our private conversations about out dreamer friends, usually an ounce of practicality is worth a pound of idealism.

Yep, there are lots of homesteaders of every color out there. It's just that many an "intellectual homesteader" might not recognize them.

That's part of why I call myself a farmer.

[RichieC]

Originally Posted by Jim S.

I'd also ask that this please not be taken the wrong way, but aspects of the homesteading movement have a "pointy headed intellectual" air about them, to borrow a phrase from the late Gov. George Wallace.

In many cases, self-described homesteaders are people who are totally clueless to the ways and hardships of the country life but have some romanticized ideal about it all, going out and trying to make their way in it. In the more tragic of those cases, those folks choose to resist the hard-earned wisdom of their neighbors and instead forge their own hardheaded way, seen as bizarre by the locals, and often ending when they succumb to it all in a few years, sell their land with the yurt or whatever on it, and head back to the city.

Yet there are thousands of black families in the Black Belt of Alabama (named after it's soils), for just one example, who are homesteading in every intellectual sense of the word, but they don't have puters -- and they are either barely, or are not, high school educated. Yet they live by what they rend from the land, probably moreso than those self-described white homesteaders who simply retired to the lifestyle after striking it rich somehow, and thus have a cushion to fall back on. By virtue of their poverty, these black families are not huge contributors to the waste stream, either.

So when the intellectualism of the concept is ripped off, that's when the toothless old man who's seen in town twice a year begins to make sense as he speaks of how he surives out there in the boondocks using his wits alone.

I know many starry-eyed dreamers out in the countryside who are friends, but I cannot help but shake my head when I see them eschew proven country methods that will work to put food on their tables or get their working farm projects done, only because they are instead pursuing some wild-eyed idealistic vision they got out of some "back to the land" book.

Dude, if there's not enough deadfall wood on your place, you need to cut some live trees if you're going to have wood for winter heat. Feed your stomach first, so you'll have fuel for your mind next. And etc.

This is not to disparage the movement or the efforts of folks to get back to a closeness with the land. But as DW often points out to me in our private conversations about out dreamer friends, usually an ounce of practicality is worth a pound of idealism.

Yep, there are lots of homesteaders of every color out there. It's just that many an "intellectual homesteader" might not recognize them.

Yup, that's pretty much it.

[pixelphotograph]

I have a very good black friend who I spend alot of time with and when a large group of us all goes and hangs out together we two stick together and get along well.
I asked him one time if he wanted to go camping with us and he laughed and said you mean in tents in the woods and stuff?
I said yeah campfire cooking over an open fire camping in a tent in the woods.
He said no way no self respectful black person would be caught dead camping.
I asked him why?
he said the only way you gonna see me in a tent in the woods is if I am so poor I cant afford anything else. I worked hard to get where I am and get what I have and I'll be danged if I am gonna go sleep in the woods. I got a home thats paid for and a good paying job I got heat and air and a soft bed to sleep in.
If I was homeless I might sleep in the woods but only then.
I was shocked He said yall call it recreation we call it homeless or dirt poor.\

I imagine this is why you see few people of color homestead. Why would they want to go back to that style of living.
Just my two cents worth.

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by RichieC

I agree that self-identified "homesteaders" are mostly white.

I have a theory about why, not racial but also unlikely to be popular on this site, so I'll pass.

Well, I think the majority of african-american minorities are pretty much stuck in the urban environment and unable (for financial reasons) to get out. I would think that maybe the previous generation would have some interest in living a homesteading lifestyle, but I am highly doubtful that my generation (boomers) and certainly the Gen-Xers have no interest due to not knowing anything else except city life.

Of course, I am generalizing here. But I read online (google? Yahoo? CNN?) where 93 percent of the population in this country lives in towns or cities larger than 20,000 people. That sure does not leave many folks of *any* color to be homesteaders, I would say.

donsgal

[Bencooper21]

Originally Posted by Chalk Creek

Please, no one take this as a racial post, not meant to be at all, just curiosity.

Does anyone have any idea of the racial demographics as applied to homesteaders? Seem to me to be predominatley white. If so, any ideas why?

Maybe a poll on this board, if it didn't turn into a racial slight against anyone, would be interesting.

Sorry if this has been discussed earlier, I didn't find another post about it.

I'm sure there are non-white homesteaders out there but they don't call themselves that and they don't talk about it on the internet.

[Timberline]

Thanks for all the insights, everyone. I don't know why I've been thinking about this lately. It seems to me that a more self-sufficient lifestyle (whether homesteading, farming, ranching, or what have you) would benefit all people, but haven't heard much about non-white races involved with it. Certainly a large part of that is the area where I live, mostly white and some hispanic. Last weekend my 13 year old nephew went on a trip to Denver and for the first time in his life, spoke to a black man. My nephew seemed a bit surprised that the man was so nice and friendly. I thought that was sad, but am glad he had the experience.

[edcopp]

Originally Posted by Chalk Creek

Please, no one take this as a racial post, not meant to be at all, just curiosity.

Does anyone have any idea of the racial demographics as applied to homesteaders? Seem to me to be predominatley white. If so, any ideas why?

Maybe a poll on this board, if it didn't turn into a racial slight against anyone, would be interesting.

Sorry if this has been discussed earlier, I didn't find another post about it.

The reason is;

The population of the United States is predominately WHITE. Check it out you will find out that it is true.

[The Paw]

I think there are a number of reasons, some of which have been mentioned already. Some thoughts that spring to mind:

1. The demographics of this site are not necessarily the same as those of homesteaders, who may not be on-line for various reasons.

2. "Homesteader" seems to be a somewhat vague term, but appears to be a weird mix of the rural poor, hobby farmers, hippies, and survivalists. I think you would only see a significant number of people of colour in the first of these categories.

3. Homesteading implies access to parcels of rural land, and minorities have historically had unequal access to land ownership. Industrialization also resulted in moving sharecroppers and rural poor off the land and into cities to work in factories.

None of these explains it entirely, but I think they all contribute.

[Pelenaka]

Woodsrunner & I recently spent 4 days with my maternal family in Puerto Rico @ my uncle's small 3 acre farm where he has solar, a 45k gallon fresh water cistern, bee hives, small kitchen garden, and horses for enjoyment. When everyone was younger (he's 72, Grandmother is 94) they had beef cattle, goats for meat, usual chickens, and small coffee production along with a large kitchen garden for the household.
For the most part my uncle is the lone homesteader-type in his barrio despite the rual environment. Just as pixel stated about his friend camping in a tent, farming type activities are simply seen as what you have to do when your untrained labor and poor.
~~ pelenaka ~~
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/

[MarleneS]

Don't know, don't care, and wish there a majority of others who feel the same

Marlene

[Pink_Carnation]

I really only know if someone is (insert ethnicity here) if they tell us or post pictures that make it clear. After all that I might still not remember because it doesn't matter.

[Jenn]

Jim is correct for AL- of course SD has no black farmers or homesteaders since the only five black people in SD are the few my cousins married or gave birth to after marrying someone black from out of state. This of course is an exaggeration but was very accurate in the 1960s, and I'm pretty sure most blacks in SD live in the city (and might be straight from Africa and not really Afro-Americans at all for another generation anyway!).

Donsgal those urban blacks you note are mostly the grandchildren and now great- / greatgreat grands of rural Southern black farmers or sharecroppers. Not all their families left the farm. As Jim points out those black farmers are less likely to have computers than former (because I'm no longer y!) yuppies like me who move out to acreage from city jobs, or even a richer white farmer. When I bought my manure trailer from the local implement graveyard half the folks asking if the dealer had a hay wagon or a cotton picker (or some such name for a farm implement used here in cotton/peanut/cattle country) were black. Maybe some of them were hired men for white farmers, dunno.

When DH and I were in line at the DMV a crusty and fragrant chicken farmer shared gardening tips with me. He is white but his (sweeter smelling) wife who joined him later is black- the black black color I so rarely saw on a person born in America when I grew up in Pittsburgh.

[Jim S.]

Jenn, having spent extended time on Pine Ridge Rez, there's plenty of Indians getting by with just their wits in SD. I don't think black is the sole qualifier in the discussion, it's just the operative color in my example.

For example, I have been with Lakotas who have brought a live cow into a front yard, shot it, butchered it right there on tarps, took the meat and put it in with water and veggies in a 200-gallon stock tank over a fire, and made soup for hundreds.

There are lots of folks from various walks living a rural, independent lifestyle who aren't on here yakking about it like I do, because they can't afford the puter, the Net service, or the time. In my immediate surroundings around the farm, I have to hand it to the Mexicans so many seem to be down on. They are the hardest working, most self-sufficient people I have seen in a long time. If they don't have it, they make it, scrounge it, or go to work and save til they can buy it with cash. I think that's what scares some folks.

[DamnearaFarm]

I agree with Jim, you won't find a harder worker more grateful for the opportunity to work.

[Sparticle]

Originally Posted by Jim S.

In my immediate surroundings around the farm, I have to hand it to the Mexicans so many seem to be down on. They are the hardest working, most self-sufficient people I have seen in a long time. If they don't have it, they make it, scrounge it, or go to work and save til they can buy it with cash. I think that's what scares some folks.

I grew up on the far east side of Houston Texas and I have always felt the same way. The hardest working people I have met are Mexican. the friendliest people I've ever met are Mexican. I was helped raised by two neighbor women from Mexico because my mother was too young and clueless to know what to do. They taught us to cook and clean. I'm used to being around a mix of people. I moved to NY though and it's been so weird for me that everyone I see is white. Even when I drive into town, the majority of people are white. I guess since I grew up in a ship channel area with a lot of industry, it attracted people from all over for the work. Up here, I think most people that live here probably descended from people that settled this area and other than farming, there's not a lot of big industry.

[Oggie]

I think you'll find that folks who call themselves homesteaders are mostly white (after a bath).

Now, if you're asking about homiesteaders, you might get different results.

But, seriously, the "homesteading movement" is about folks who are making that move as a matter of choice. There are thousands of people who never left the land and live as frugally as possible because that is what they were born into. They don't see it as any sort of movement, it's just life. And, among those people, you will find more of a mix of all races and cultures.