Presentation: "Centuries of African and African American Gardening Wisdom: Indispensable Practices for Current and Future Generations "
Abra Lee is an international speaker, writer, and founder of Conquer the Soil, a community which explores the history, folklore, and art of horticulture. She has spent a "whole lotta time in the dirt" as a municipal arborist and airport landscape manager. Her essays have been featured in publications including The New York Times and Wildflower Magazine. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University College of Agriculture and an alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global network of public horticulture professionals.
Wambui Ippolito is the 2021 Best in Show award winner at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Born in Kenya, Ms. Ippolito was influenced by her mother’s garden in Nairobi, her grandmother’s farm in the countryside, and the natural landscapes of East Africa. A graduate of the New York Botanical Garden's School of Horticulture, Veranda Magazine named her one of “Eleven Revolutionary Female Landscape Designers and Architects You Should Know" in 2021. Ms. Ippolito is the founder of the BIPOC Hort Group, a multicultural professional organization with membership from the USA, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Judge Lillian Harris Ransom began her judicial career in 1995 when she was elected to a ten-year term on the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, PA. Her experience in gardening began as a child while growing up on a farm in rural Virginia, where she and her family raised almost all of the food they consumed. Her experiences with gardening for pleasure were provided by her grandmother, who was the president of the Community Garden Club in Portsmouth, VA. Judge Ransom is the immediate past president of the Our Garden Club of Philadelphia and Vicinity (OGCPV), which is believed to be the oldest continuously operating African American garden club in America.
Teri Speight is a Native Washingtonian, author, former Head Gardener for the City of Fredericksburg, VA, garden writer, freelance writer, podcaster, and garden visionary. She is a member of National Association of Black Journalists, GardenComm, National Garden Clubs Urban Garden Chair, and president of Jabali Amani Garden Collective, an online garden club. As a true Steward of the land, Teri shares her passion on her website – Cottage in the Court. Her book, Black Flora was recently published by Timber Press.
Guina Hammond is a horticultural educator and Master Gardener. She is a West Philadelphia native and founding member of the Chester Avenue Community Garden, where she has grown award winning fruits and vegetables for the past 38 years. Through gardening, greening, and holistic health practices, she supports people to live their lives connected to each other and the natural world around them.
