COVE

This picture shown above is a bunch of protesters during the Pigford vs Glickman case. There were many of these protests that were going on at the time before and during this case. They were all there to protest how the USDA treated the African-American farmers during this time. As we can see the sign in this picture is saying that the USDA was a "cruel joke" to many farmers and employees. Many people felt this way because the USDA was supposed to be a program these farmers and employees could rely on when they needed it most. However, that is not what happened for most of these African American farmers. Instead they were subject to racial discrimmination. The USDA did this by not giving out loans to African American farmers because of the farmers not having hardly any credit. The farmers weren't able to have any credit built up though because they weren't able to get any loans given to them.

Instead, the USDA gave White farmers more power with the rules and guidelines that they had set. This intern gave the White farmers more connections and political power to gain more control of the monopolistic power in Agricultural production. When these conditions did not get any better African American farmers began to protest these actions made by the USDA. This then lead to an investigation that looked into the discriminations that were being made against these black farmers. From there this case went to a lawsuit and was then settled on April 14, 1999. This resolution then set new standards for the USDA that they had to meet for the farmers.

Sources:

Cowan, Tadlock and Feder, Joey "