Now in its fifth season, Temescal's Freedom Farmers Market was created to create a space where black farmers can sell produce to customers who also want to connect with African-American culture through food.

“We’re more than a market,” said co-founder Gail Myers. “We’re a place to celebrate black folk, black culture, and black food. We’re an African-American social space.”

The Freedom Farmers Market came about as a result of an unaddressed need by the community for fresh healthy produce, and also as a way to showcase black farmers growing legacy foods.

“There are very few black farmers selling at farmers markets,” said Myers. As a result, working black farmers are not only under-represented, but also go financially unsupported, she said.

"We want to balance that narrative and provide new histories," she said. "We want to change what people think about when they think of who grows their food."

The Freedom Farmers Market is smaller than markets at Grand Lake and Jack London Square, but Myers is unfazed: “Nobody does what we do.”

“As we have become separated from the land we have been separated from our foods,” said Myers. “And if we don’t encourage black farmers, we don’t get to grow and eat our food.”

According to Myers, the African-American diet is often characterized by "demeaning relationships with food," partially due to a lack of access, but also because of racial stereotypes.

“We sell watermelon here,” said Myers. “We have seed-spitting contests. We do crowder pea shelling.”

“These are the foods of our history,” she said. “These are foods that came over with the slaves. The seeds that women braided into their hair.”

Dennis Terry is an Oakland native who lives just a few blocks from the market and manages the produce stall for R Kelley Farms, a black-owned and operated farm out in Sacramento County.

As a student at Laney College, Terry was a volunteer cook at the Black Panther’s free breakfast program at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. Today, he's producing Seeds of Struggle, a documentary on black farmers and food justice.  

Terry described his role at the Freedom Market as "a different kind of activism."

“We’re still trying to deal with the problem of food access,” said Terry. “And by working specifically and primarily with black farmers we’re trying to make a statement and fill a need.”

As we spoke, a young woman approached and put a handful of hot peppers on the scale.

“Thirty cents,” said Terry.

“Thirty cents?” the woman said. “How is that possible?”

“You’re at the Freedom Farmers Market,” said Terry. “That’s how it’s possible.”

Freedom Farmers Market is located at 5316 Telegraph Ave., near the juncture of Telegraph and Claremont Avenues. The market is open on Saturday from 10–3 through December 16.