Abra Lee | |
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| Born | 1978 (age 46–47) Atlanta |
| Alma mater | Auburn University |
| Occupation(s) | Historian; public horticulturalist |
| Awards | 2019-20 Longwood Fellow |
| Website | conquerthesoil |
Abra Lee (born 1978 [1] ) is an American public horticulturalist, historian and writer, who researches Black garden history and raises awareness of the subject through social media.
Lee graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture. [2] She has worked in a number of horticultural roles, including: with the University of Georgia as a County Extension Agent for Fulton County; [2] [3] as Landscape Manager for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; [4] as a horticulturalist at George Bush Intercontinental Airport; [2] as a municipal arborist at City of Atlanta Department of Parks. [5]
As of 2021, Lee worked as a freelance horticultural writer and lecturer, for institutions such as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Centre, Temple University, Smithsonian Gardens, and others. [6] [7] [4] [8] [9] Her work seeks to break down the barriers that prevent black people participating in horticulture. [10] She does this through researching and highlighting the lives of Black women in horticulture, from antebellum history to the present day. [8] Lee says that the "beautiful thing about Black garden history is that it can't be separated from Black history and it can't be separated from American history". [8] She founded the social media platform Conquer the Soil, which raises horticultural awareness through Black garden history and current events. [11]
Lee was selected a 2019-20 Longwood Gardens Fellow. [12] [11] As part of her fellowship she travelled to Château de Villandry where she researched lesser known histories of the garden, as well as supporting a curatorial project which compared the lives of Ann Coleman Carvallo at Château Villandry and Anne Spencer of Lynchburg. [13] Her first book Conquer the Soil: Black America and the Untold Stories of Our Country's Gardeners, Farmers, and Growers is due to be published in 2022 by Indigo Books. [14] [15] [16]