Justice is what we need... Food Warriors
date: label: date made
content: 2013
notes: label: Description
content: This medium-sized bright red cotton T-shirt is from the brand, Jerzees. A flower sits on the upper left side of the shirt and forms the center of a logo. The words “abundance,” “power,” “unity,” and “affluence” frame the top and sides of the flower with various vegetables placed between the words. At the bottom the acronym, DBCFSN, stands out in bold black lettering with the phrase “Fostering Community Food Security” underneath. Underneath the logo, the sentence “Justice is what we need...” curves around the enlarged phrase “Food Warriors” and to the right of the words is a stylized leaf.
label: Description
content: DBCFSN refers to the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network in Detroit, Michigan. The organization was formed in 2006 by a group of forty residents concerned about food insecurity within the local African American community at Black Star Community Bookstore. The DBCFSN sprang from an earlier effort by several founding members at the Nsoroma Institute Public School Academy to create a school garden, a school-wide food security curriculum and a garden collective. The DBCFSN wanted to address the lack of African American representation in the local urban agriculture movement in Detroit. The organization believes that effective food security and justice movements develop from within the community, and they support local leadership in Detroit. The organization operates a farm on seven acres of land in the City of Detroit’s Rouge Park called D-Town Farm. A team of local volunteers and staff grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables (in 2020 about 30) and offer tours. This T-shirt was worn by a gardener working on behalf of a youth program of the DBCFSN. The phrase “Food Warriors” refers to the after-school youth program created by the DBCFSN. The Food Warriors Youth Development program operates at three sites in Detroit as of June 2021. The Food Warriors program encourages the youth in the community to engage with the food system by teaching them about food justice, agriculture, and how to cook healthy meals. This red T-shirt represents the mission of DBCFSN and their efforts to increase access to healthy, sustainably grown food in Detroit neighborhoods and support community leadership and empowerment in the urban agriculture movement.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
label: Exhibition
content: Food: Transforming the American Table
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2018.0203.01
label: catalog number
content: 2018.0203.01
label: accession number
content: 2018.0203
objectType: label: Object Name
content: t-shirt
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: cotton (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 28 in x 31 in; 71.12 cm x 78.74 cm