The murder of Shirley Sherrod’s father when she was 17 — a white farmer shot him to death, reportedly over a livestock dispute — had a profound impact on her life.
She responded by becoming an activist to support farmers in her native Georgia. Sherrod rose to the position of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) state director of rural development for Georgia, the first black person to hold that position. Then last year, she prevailed following a controversy over remarks she made in a speech, taken out of context to falsely paint her as a racist.
Sherrod will deliver the Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium keynote address at 10 a.m. Jan. 17 at Hill Auditorium.
Growing up in Baker County, Ga., Sherrod’s father Hosie Miller was a deacon at the local Baptist Church. Following his death, no charges were returned against the shooter by an all-white grand jury. This was a turning point in her life, as Sherrod became determined to stay in the South to affect change.
Shirley Sherrod, former U.S. Department of Agriculture state director of rural development for Georgia, will deliver the MLK Symposium keynote address Jan. 17. Photo courtesy Shirley Sherrod.
During the 1960s, Sherrod and her husband helped to form several land trusts to benefit farmers, including the collective farm New Communities Inc. in 1969. The 6,000-acre project in Lee County, Ga., was the largest tract of black-owned land in the United States. Sherrod went on to work with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, then accepted a position with the USDA in 2009.
But in July 2010, Sherrod was forced to resign after video excerpts of her remarks at an NAACP event seemed to suggest that Sherrod as a federal official racially discriminated against a white farmer. Further study showed the posted video was taken out of context and that Sherrod actually was conveying a completely different meaning.
The USDA responded by offering her another job, which she declined.
