Book Review: “Rooted”

In “Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership,” author Brea Baker chronicles the history that shaped the Black community’s access to land in what is now considered the United States. Baker asks the reader: “What does it mean to reclaim that tainted history and desecrated land, land rightfully associated with trauma; what does it mean for such land to become not only a home but also a vehicle for equity?” In answering these questions, Baker explores the historical and present movements towards Black land ownership: a pathway to Black liberation. 

“Rooted” is compelling both in the historical accounts Baker provides, and in terms of her own stakes in the history and future of Black land ownership. Baker’s own work is situated within the movement, and her family legacy is an expression of liberation through land ownership. 

Baker personalizes the meaning of the historical events she discusses by drawing parallels between them and her own family’s journey to owning land that they now call Bakers’ Acres. The history of sharecropping, for instance, invokes stories of her grandmother’s family throwing peach parties — “turning the chore of growing fruit and vegetables into a family affair” — and of the initial purchase of land by her relatives Louis and Nancy Baker in the early 19th century. Stories of violence and struggle are interwoven with struggles of resistance and success.

Throughout the book, Baker also articulates the intertwined histories of land theft, Black relationships with land and movements towards land ownership, and Indigenous relationships with land and reclamation of land. She traces points of alignment between the groups, as well as points of harm.

Baker’s writing is accessible, and readers will be especially drawn into her personal and familial narrative. This book is particularly resonant today, in a time of renewed consolidation of wealth and power that targets Black and other marginalized communities.

Moreover, “Rooted” underscores that despite moments in history such as Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement we are far from having made reparations. And at the same time, “Rooted” celebrates the persistent resilience and creativity of the Black community in gaining access to land and moving towards freedom on land and in community.

– Madi Whaley

This review was originally published in the winter 2025-2026 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.