​By Professor Susan A. Schneider

Documents and Links

• Pursuant to President Trump's Executive Order, the new Secretary of the USDA, Brooke Rollins issued a "memorandum to rescind all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs and celebrations. Instead, USDA will reprioritize unity, equality, meritocracy, and color-blind policies."

“We will neither commemorate nor celebrate our immutable characteristics, neither among ourselves nor among Americans at large. We will instead celebrate the things that make us American: merit, faith, and liberty first among them. All Americans deserve equal dignity, and at this Department they will receive it. On this precipice of the 250th anniversary of our Revolution, we will rededicate ourselves to ‘the proposition that all men are created equal.’”

​

• It has been reported that all grants and cooperative agreements that are targeted to underserved farmers and ranchers are under review and may be rescinded. For information on litigation brought challenging USDA actions, visit the Trump Administration Actions page.

​

• The case of Black Farmers Agric. Ass’n Inc. v. Vilsack , No. 24-05119 proceeded before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments were held on Jan. 30, 2025. In this case, the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association Inc. and its members are seeking reversal of the district court's dismissal of their action. The suit alleges the USDA’s Discrimination Financial Assistance Program “perpetuates historic racial discrimination” by excluding the claims of heirs of deceased farmers and landowners subjected to discrimination by the USDA.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

From the Archives:

​

The gif posted below provides a graphic representation showing the decline of Indian homelands from 1776 to 1887.  Blue indicates lands held by Indian tribes; red indicates reservation land. This is the work of University of Georgia historian, Claudio Saunt to supplement his book, West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776.  The graphic was created with the assistance of State magazine's Rebecca Onion as is available on the Vox website, The Theft of Native American's Land, in One Animated Map (June 19, 2014).