from a previous thread, post # 68 by kcvl
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2555295/posts?page=68#68
Shirley’s work began in 1965 as an organizer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Southwest Georgia Project. She helped to start the land trust, New Communities, Inc., that had 6,000 acres of land.
Shirley Sherrod was appointed Georgia Director for Rural Development by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on July 25.
Only days earlier, she learned that New Communities, a group she founded with her husband and other families has won a thirteen million dollar settlement in the minority farmers law suit Pigford vs Vilsack.
Minority Farm Settlement
We have wonderful news regarding the case of New Communities, Inc., the land trust that Shirley and Charles Sherrod established, with other black farm families in the 1960’s. At the time, with holdings of almost 6,000 acres, this was the largest tract of black-owned land in the country. Now with a cash award of historic proportions, the group will be able to begin again.
In 1969, New Communities received a planning grant from OEO and was encouraged to expect substantial funding for implementation, but Governor Maddox would not permit further funds for the group to come into the state.
Nevertheless, New Communities built up farming operations to help retain the land. They had highway frontage where they had a farmers market to sell their crops. They raised hogs and sold the processed meat in a smokehouse they built on the highway. Their sugar cane mill on the highway also attracted customers. New Communities was ahead of the times in raising eight acres of Muscatine grapes, which are now widely grown in the area. They also farmed 1,500 acres of row crops, including corn, peanuts and soybeans.
http://www.ruraldevelopment.org/shirleydirector.html
Charles and Shirley Sherrod, and others formed New Communities, Inc. – the nation’s very first community land trust
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and othergovernmental agencies did not grant loans or allow the restructuring of existingloans. This factor, when combined with debt and a drought, led New Communitiesto lose all of its land by 1985. However, the story was not over
A lawsuit was launched, claiming discrimination by the USDA. In 2009, nearlyforty years after the founding of New Communities, an historic cash settlementwas awarded. New Communities is slated to receive nearly 13 million dollars,mostly for loss of land and income.
By resigning does she still get her pension?