Organizing
Overview
The Ceremony of the Land was first performed in 1937 at a convention for agricultural worker organizing -- a precursor to the National Agricultural Workers' Union (NAWU). It was written by Reverend Howard Kester, a preacher and activist who worked with the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, the NAACP, and the Committee on Economic and Racial Justice. The ceremony was frequently performed at union conventions as a call and response.
Questions
- How does the ceremony describe the land and its fruit?
- How does the ceremony invoke solidarity among "races of men" and the "disinherited"?
PDF of Ceremony of the Land Download Ceremony of the Land
Ceremony of the Land Links to an external site., Henry Pope Anderson Papers, larc.ms.0422, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.