First Kirklin Scholarship Award!
Edward Linzie is the first recipient of the Henry Kirklin Black Farmer Scholarship.
The Henry Kirklin Black Farmer Scholarship Fund made its first grant award to Edward Linzie, a lifelong Boone County resident. Linzie is an optimistic and charismatic man who grew up on his family farm on Log Providence Road. His grandfather and his father grew up there breeding and training horses and eventually Angus cattle. Growing up, he spent time both in Columbia at his grandmother’s house in the Indian Hills neighborhood, and on the family farm. No matter where he was, he always felt unique. In town he was the country kid, and in the country he was one of the few African Americans. Growing up he loved showing his city friends the family farm, driving them around in his grain cart, an old VW Rabbit that he was allowed to drive around the farm. “My friends always thought it was really cool, and it was, but it was work, and they didn’t really understand that.”
For some years, Linzie strayed away from the farm as a young man, chasing money in the city. The family farm was split up and sold off years back when his father died. However, he is a country boy at heart, and six years ago he settled down on five acres of land near Hartsburg, in southern Boone County where he lives with his wife. The farm is owned by his boss at Salters Lawn Care, but Linzie plans on purchasing it in the future. The Linzie Farm is home to chickens, ducks and horses. This year, with the help of the scholarship fund, he is creating a large vegetable plot that will grow melons, tomatoes and cucumbers. He plans to sell his melons in Columbia and Jeff City. Eventually Linzie would like to breed and train service dogs and to offer therapeutic activities where people can come to groom and ride his horses. He has been working with Lincoln University Extension and the Missouri Women’s Business Center to help develop his production plan and business plan.
Linzie is a wealth of local history. I learned that after emancipation, many freed slaves had purchased land to farm in the area of Log Providence Road, where Linzie grew up. This pocket of Boone County is rich in history. The nearby Bass plantation was one of the old slaveholding farms that was split up at that time. In visiting with Linzie, I learned about Tom Bass, who was born into slavery and worked on the Bass plantation. Linzie has multiple photos of Tom Bass (a contemporary of Henry Kirklin) posted in his barn. Bass is a big deal. He was born into slavery here in Boone County, and eventually became an internationally known horse trainer in Mexico, Missouri. Bass trained horses for people like Buffalo Bill, Will Rogers and Theodore Roosevelt.
Linzie told me about the Black churches in that area as well. He recounted their histories and the many times they were burnt down and rebuilt. During prohibition, Linzie’s family grew grain for the moonshine stills that operated in the area that is now Rock Bridge State Park. Many of the Black-owned farms in that area were sold off during the Great Depression and many of them were purchased by the Missouri Department of Conservation to create Three Creeks Conservation Area. Many farmers lost their land during this time period. However, Black farmers across the country were disproportionately affected, as many of them owned smaller plots and had less wealth.
Those losses were never recovered. In 1910, African American farmers owned about 19 million acres of farmland in the United States. Today, Black farmers are only working 3.6 million acres of farmland.
Linzie playing with a recently born foal at his farm in southern Boone County.
Mr. Linzie is writing his own history and carrying forward the legacy of his family. He’d like to get to the point where the farm is his full-time work. For now it is just supplemental. He’s got big plans for his property — getting rid of the honey locust trees, terracing his back hillside, training more horses and expanding his gardens. “I’ve got this disease where I just want to do it all, but I know I just have to focus on one thing at a time.”
Both Linzie’s father and grandfather died on the farm, working their animals. “They died doing what they loved, and that’s what I want for me, to die in these boots. Not anytime soon, but you know, many more years ahead.”
The Henry Kirklin Black Farmer Scholarship Fund continues to accept applications for funding. Learn more and apply at buildthistown.org/kirklin