Black veganism facts for kids
Black veganism is a way of life and a diet in the United States. It connects how animals are used with other important issues like racism. It also looks at the lasting effects of slavery. For example, the simple foods enslaved people ate became family traditions. When many Black Americans moved from farms to cities, they couldn't grow their own food. This meant they started eating more processed foods.
Sisters Syl Ko and Aph Ko were the first to use the term "Black veganism."
By 2021, studies showed that Black people were becoming vegan faster than any other group in the US.
What is the History of Black Veganism?
The idea of veganism as a movement was mostly started by white people.
The modern Black veganism movement gets ideas from several places. One is Rastafarianism, which developed a plant-based diet called Ital in Jamaica in the 1930s. Another group is the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem. They have supported strict veganism since the 1960s. The Nation of Islam also connected eating plant-based foods to fighting unfair treatment.
Black veganism also has roots in the American Civil Rights movement. Dick Gregory, a famous activist, marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. He believed that "Because I'm a civil rights activist, I am also an animal rights activist. Animals and humans suffer and die alike." He meant that both animals and people can suffer.
Aph and Syl Ko are important thinkers. They created a way to understand Black veganism. In 2017, they wrote a book called Aphro-ism. A reviewer named Corey Lee Wrenn said the book showed Black veganism as a way to protest. It protests against unfair treatment of animals. It also protests against harmful food traditions.
By the late 2010s, research showed that about 8% of Black Americans identified as vegan. This was higher than the 3% for the US population as a whole.
The Institute for Critical Animal Studies called Black veganism a "new area of study."
