In 2017, according to the USDA, only about 49,000 farmers out of 3.4 million across the country were Black. A century ago there were nearly one million Black farmers. Agriculture was a part of the essence of Black middle class life, and with a loss of 90% of their land came a loss of generational wealth.

Jeffrey Sauger photographed these farms in 2001 in Ohio, Virginia, North and South Carolina.