GA – PINE MOUNTAIN The hardships and injustices Black farmers have experienced, which have resulted in many of them losing their land, are widely documented. Thus, learning about the history of the Bugg Farm is rather interesting.
We met this father and son combo, whose farming heritage extends back to the 1800s, after traveling more than an hour south of Atlanta to the sacred grounds of this farm.
Only 1.3% of the 3.4 million farmers in the nation, according to the USDA, are Black.
The FOX 5 anchor Christine Sperow speaks with Addis Bugg and his son Addis about the lengthy history of one of the oldest Black family farms in Georgia.
Over 230 acres of farmland with rich soil and a rich history may be found in the small community of Pine Mountain.
Greetings from the Bugg Farm. a Black family-owned farm in operation that has been in operation since 1874.
The first person Addis Bugg and his son Addis discuss is his great-great-grandfather T.J. Bugg, who got everything started shortly after slavery was made legal in the United States.
“He purchased one land lot at a time after saving up his money. It was previously referred to as a land lot, covering about 200 acres. Thus, he would purchase a land piece, then another, and still another,” the younger Addis, who has done a great deal of study on the family history, said.
William Wiley, the eighth of T.J. Bugg’s children, inherited the farm after him and was well-known for being intelligent, self-reliant, and a diligent worker.
“He would wake up early in the morning when it was still dark, and he would knock on the window and tell them, ‘Hey, it’s time to start working,’ and they would farm the mules and stuff like that.”
“From seeing to not seeing,” the older Addis states. “That saying mean you work from dawn to dusk.”