Clarence & Florence Jordan and Mabel & Martin England founded Koinonia Farm in 1942 as a “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God.” They farmed this plot of land for the community’s livelihood and, in the words of Clarence Jordan, “to conserve the soil, God’s holy earth.”
Before Koinonia and before those from whom the co-founders of this community acquired the land, we publicly acknowledge that much of this region was farmed by enslaved Black people whose labor built wealth for white landowners. Before that time, the Muscogee (Creek) Indigenous tribes were rightful owners and stewards. Through a long history of painful treaties with the State of Georgia and the United States, the Muscogee (Creek) tribes were forced to cede this land and dispossess it; they were moved west into Oklahoma.
In the 1940s, during the time that the Jordans and Englands founded Koinonia Farm, the Muscogee Creeks of Georgia joined other tribes to sue for proper compensation for the land; the last payment was made in 1987.
Today, the Lower Muscogee Creek Tribe is recognized as a legal entity within the State of Georgia.
Koinonia respectfully acknowledges that the land where we live and work is the traditional land of the Muscogee Creek Indigenous Peoples. Koinonia acknowledges them and any other peoples who have or will be caretakers of this land. We do not support colonial forces that undermine, distort, or erase the vital role of Indigenous people in our world.
