Farming has never been easy, but, as this month’s farmer states, “Black people have had a hard time trying to farm.” John Botts’s great-grandmother was brought to his now farm by two white men that held her in slavery. She had two children by these men, and John’s father was one of them. Those slavers gave John’s great-grandmother that farm as a gift, and John later bought it from his mother. As of 1991 he was raising about 9,000 lbs of tobacco and had about 30 head of dairy cattle knowing none of his four kids wanted to farm once he was gone. John details how he met his wife of 39 years, at the time, his experiences being discriminated against while working on other people’s farms, how he got his first 5 cows, and dealing with banks in Bath County as a black man. From what we have gathered, it seems that Mr. Botts has now passed on, but that he was dairy farming until 2003. He was a dedicated member of Community Farm Alliance, and we are grateful for the work he did in DC, Frankfort, and Bath Co in the 90s advocating for farmers. Our sincere thanks to the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections of University of Kentucky Libraries for allowing us to use this oral history from the Family Farmers of KY: African American Farmers Oral History Project. Resources for this months episode include: John Bott’s full interview from 1991 https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt7z0863637g Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices