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Black Farmers in Pembroke
Pembroke is a historically Black farming community, at times one of the largest concentrations of Black farmers north of the Mason-Dixon line. The first Black residents of Pembroke arrived in the 1860s: the Tetter family led by patriarch Joseph ‘Pap’ Tetter came from North Carolina. They settled on 42 acres of land which was either bought or acquired using adverse possession laws and established Hopkins Park. Many sources repeat the story that Hopkins Park/Pembroke was a stop along the Underground Railroad. The Tetters were the first of a long tradition of Black farmers in Pembroke; people who had been forced to farm as slaves and sharecroppers could now cultivate their own small plots of land. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, some parts of life in Pembroke were racially segregated, but many Black and white farmers worked together, likely more so than in surrounding parts of Kankakee County.

Unlike many surrounding areas with rich soil, the soil in Pembroke is sandy and lower quality. This presents challenges for growing food, but it also allowed many Black families to buy land in an area that became mostly ignored by white farmers. According to the Chicago Field Museum, "soil seen as poor by outsiders is an asset in Pembroke, " requiring farmers to be creative and often collaborate. Some local farmers sold agricultural and livestock products for profit locally as well as to Chicago and other midwestern cities. Others were and continue to be homesteaders who grew food for themselves. Large groups of Black farmers came to Pembroke during the Great Migration (from the South) and an even larger group moved to the area during the Great Depression (from Chicago). Pembroke became almost entirely Black by the time WWII ended. According to the Black Oaks Center, a local Black-run farm, “Pembroke was the 3rd largest hemp producer in the nation” during WWII.

Although the area struggles with high poverty rates and a decreasing population size, the tradition of Black farmers continues in the area today with places like the Black Oaks Center and Iyabo Farms.