Jim Embry's most familiar phrase
is "and what about our future?" His most familiar action is to quietly
"get busy" with the work to be done. Jim has been a community activist
for more than 50 years beginning as a civil rights activist in 1960 as
a 10 year old.
Jim Embry Bio 2014
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Jim Embry comes from a long line of
social change agents that extend back at least to the Civil War. Three members
of his family fought with the US Colored Troops during the Civil War and one
was at Appomattox when General Lee surrendered. His maternal great grandfather,
D.B Ballew, using his father’s (who died in the Civil War) pension was a Berea
College student from 1879-81 at the same time as James Bond. James Bond who became
well known as a Kentucky civil rights activist, was a Berea College trustee, gave
the 1905 Commencement address and was the grandfather of Julian Bond. D.B Ballew and James Bond were most certainly
friends and forged ideas for activism in their community. D.B. Ballew and his
granddaughter, Jean Ballew Barnett would often during the 1930’s refuse to give
up their seat and move to the back of the bus. They were of course then put off
the buses and had to walk the rest of the way into Richmond from their small
farm. Jean Barnett was Jim Embry’s mother and passed on these stories of her grandparents
and Civil War veteran great grandfathers.
Embry was born in Richmond, KY a grandson of
small farmers who were also social activists. Community embers of his family
fought in the Civil War, were present at Appomattox when General Lee
surrendered, attended Berea College in 1879 and fought Jim Crow laws during the
1930’s and 40’s. This legacy of activism was passed on to him in 1960
when his mother, Jean Barnett Embry became president of the Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE) chapter in Covington KY and Jim as a 10 year old became one of
the youngest CORE members nationally. It was within CORE picketing,
sitting-in, wading-in, and protesting that Jim began a lifelong mission
and passion for social change and community activism. Later while in high
school Jim became the KY state youth chairman of the NAACP, helped organize for
the March on Frankfort in 1964 led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and served on
the local commission that drafted the first open housing ordinances in
Covington, KY. While attending the University of Kentucky Jim helped
found and served as president of the Black Student Union that ushered in many
significant campus wide racial justice initiatives such as integrating the
basketball team , instituting diversity programs, African American History
courses, banning of the song Dixie and rebel flags at sports events, organizing
the annual Martin Luther King Day March.
In
April 1968 while attending Dr King’s funeral and serving as a funeral marshal,
Jim met Ernie Green (part of the Little Rock Nine) and was offered a summer job
working in New York City. It was this experience in Brooklyn that exposed Jim
to the issues of food and health injustice that became so central to his life’s
work. In 1971 after being inspired by his friendship with Dick Gregory, Jim
became a vegetarian/food activist and joined with others to found the Good
Foods Co-op in Lexington. His marriage to Deborah Mapp produced five children
that provided additional inspiration for activism and community involvement.
Their children (Siku, Ayo, Segun, Ajani, Obiora; who all received college
engineering degrees) and now their grandchildren (Zariah, Maisha & JJ,
Shamar & Kinli, Seriah & Neah) all continue to be a source of pride,
inspiration, mutual support and collective activism.
He
has participated in most of the major social justice movements of his era:
Civil Rights, Student, Black Power, Environmental, Labor, Anti-war and Peace,
Women’s, Disability, LGBTQ, Anti-Nuclear, food justice and natural foods. Jim
now believes that the sustainability movement encompasses all the other
movements and will bring about a paradigm shift or The Great Turning which will allow humans to
manifest our more divine relationships with each other and the Earth.
In
2000, Jim concluded a critical chapter in his life by moving to Detroit and
served as the Director of the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership for
4 years where he worked closely with Grace Boggs. While in Detroit he organized
meetings with and gave tours to kindred spirits from around the USA, Europe,
Africa, Asia and South America, the British Parliament, the Nobel Peace
Committee, Hopi elders and such people as Danny Glover, David Korten/Yes!
Magazine, Joanna Macy, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee and House Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Through his work at the Boggs Center he was able to contribute to many community
efforts including the Greening of Detroit,
and the Catherine Ferguson
Academy, the Detroit school for
teen mothers which operates a working farm.
Inspired
by his work in Detroit Jim returned to Kentucky in 2005 and founded Sustainable
Communities Network in 2006. Since that time Jim has guided the development of
30+ community garden projects at homeless shelters, schools, neighborhood empty
lots, city parks, faith institutions, domestic violence shelters that is now creating
a 40 acre farm, Plant to Plate at Family Care Center , drug court programs, AIDS programs and more! He has organized local food summits, served on
planning committees for national food justice conferences, inspired youth
community Mural Art projects and provided
important leadership in many community initiatives. Locally, the
organization sponsors an annual Bluegrass Local Food Summit, establishes community and
school gardens around the state, and is a leader in the city’s food justice
work
His activism has included:
serving on the board, a speaker or a member of many different organizations
including: The Isaac Murphy Memorial Art
Garden, Bluegrass Partnership for a Green Community, Good Foods Co-op, Earth
Spirit Rising, Southern Sustainable Agricultural Working Group, Central KY
Council for Peace and Justice, , The Interfaith Alliance, American Community
Gardening Association, Slow Food USA, Lexington Climate Action Plan Team; the restoration of Lexington’s African
Cemetery No. 2, serving on the board of The First African Foundation,
helped found the Bluegrass African American
Preservation Society- and organized the Youth GreenCorps. His speech at the Lexington Immigrant Rights Rally was published in the Latino Studies
journal and quoted by
Latino scholars. Jim has offered ideas to Lexington Mayor Gray about sustainability, encouraged local citizens, organized
films on health
and still takes time to eat!!!
Jim also serves on the
national planning committee for Growing Power’s
2014
National-International Urban &
Small Farms Conference.
Often times called an
“eco-activist” or "sacred Earth Activist", Jim was named Model of the Year by ACE Weekly in 2007, has received awards
from local government,
Garden
Crusader at Gardener's Supply, other recognitions and is
known for being “Black and Green” while
thinking “out-of-the-barn”. He has been video and radio interviewed on kyGREENtv, IATP-Climate and Agriculture,
KET | Connections with Renee Shaw, Kentucky Forward Urban Farm
Online, UK Ag Communications, Key Conversations Radio, blogged about on Goodness of
the Garden ,
and written about on Cities
Speak .
He is a much sought after speaker
presenting at more than 40+ events each year and as diverse as: Nashville Place at the Table, Lexington TEDx, Yale University , Somerset Community College International Festival, Growing Power Farm Conference, Breaking the Silence Conference with David
Korten,
Jim Embry’s photos have
been featured in ACE Weekly
Art in Bloom at the UK Singletary Center, St. Joseph Women’s Hospital, local
exhibits and in The Sustainable World Sourcebook for which
he was also a featured writer.
Jim Embry director of Sustainable Communities Network regards himself as a sacred Earth activist who has been
blessed to share his creative expressions and activism through photography.
Well-known for his 50+ years of social justice and sustainability activism, Jim
has travelled with his camera to such places as Italy,
Canada, Brazil, India, Mexico, Cuba, other Caribbean countries and many
places around the USA. As a scuba diver he has had the divine blessing to be in
the womb of our mother-the ocean- from whence we evolved and where the
colors are so incredible, the creatures so unique and the silence so spiritual.
From an interview on a website
located in Bulgaria and featuring his photos, Jim says that we are all artists with
multiple avenues of creativity”and
photography is but one of his creative expressions. His photography is meant to
be a reflection of our deeper humanity and a visible voice that speaks our
truth and connections with life around us. Given a camera as a young
boy by his mother to capture family gatherings, Jim went on to capture the
social movements and protest events that he was part of and eventually also the
beauty of nature. His forthcoming book, Through the Lens of a Sacred Earth
Activist: Italy and Terra Madre, will combine his narrative of social
activism with the beauty of the Earth
In 2009 he contributed articles and photographs to
two publications, Sustainable World Sourcebook
and
the Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky.
His book, Through the Lens of a Sacred
Earth Activist: Terra Madre and Italy will be published this fall and is
dedicated to his aunt and uncle, Bessie and Andrew Johnson, who were a source
of inspiration for his work in the local food and sustainability movement.
Later in
February Jim will speak and show the documentary Eight Acres of History at the Madison County Library in
Berea, KY.
Jim is
being featured on KET - Kentucky Life in a program airing in March and April about his work to inspire
community gardens in Lexington.
(Excerpted from "Yes!" Magazine, click here for website)
"This Year's Model" - Jim Embry in Ace Magazine. Click here to open a pdf of the article.
