Photo Essay| “A Touch of the South in New Jersey”

Tammy Harris holds some of her chickens as she prepares for a petting zoo session, New Joys Farms. (Brian Branch-Price for Public Square Amplified)

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NJ—Photo essays can be counter-narratives to affirm our shared humanity in racialized spaces designed to erase it. And Public Square Amplified's photojournalist, Brian Branch-Price, makes it look sublime. As always, his choice of the black-and-white medium delivers a beautiful portrait of a Black female rancher.

Tammy Harris comes from generations of harvesters. In the mid-twentieth century, her grandparents traversed the highways during the terror-filled Jim Crow era of racialized laws from New Jersey to Florida to harvest potatoes and other produce.

Today, Harris owns an 8-acre ranch in Hunterdon County, N.J., in a country where Black Americans own less than 1% of rural farmland. 

Harris and her team raise and care for farm animals—chickens, goats, horses, cows, and more. Harris is also an author: she has written a children's book about her joy—her animals. The book gives us a glimpse into some of her work, creating spaces for children and animals to bond, from pony rides to petting zoos.

“When I left business school quite sometime ago, I didn’t envision my life back on a farm and loving it or getting great satisfaction from it,” Harris said.

Harris is part of a new generation of Black farmers and ranchers changing the face of the industry landscape. They are reclaiming the land and pushing back against the praxis and practice of racism that undergirds civil society.

Harris knows quite a bit about modern day racism: "I encounter people who dismiss me as the owner of my business, and I know it's because I am a Black woman; I witnessed the same dismissiveness towards my nephew who worked with me, but I smile and push forward."

Tammy Harris carrying three buckets to the paddocks where the horses are, New Joys Farms. (Brian Branch-Price for Public Square Amplified)

Tammy Harris getting in the paddock with some of her animals, New Joy Farms . (Brian Branch-Price for Public Square Amplified)

Tammy Harris checks for eggs in one of the chicken pens, New Joy Farms . (Brian Branch-Price for Public Square Amplified)

Tammy Harris in the process of feeding her horses, New Joy Farms. (Brian Branch-Price for Public Square Amplified)

Tammy Harris feeds her cow and goats, New Joy Farms.(Brian Branch-Price for Public Square Amplified)