In 2022, shirlette travelled to 6 states to visit and interview Black farmers.

For generations, Black farmers have battled the systemic discrimination of the USDA, culminating in the landmark Pigford v. Glickman case—once the largest civil rights class-action lawsuit in U.S. history—brought by Timothy Pigford, a Washington, NC farmer, in the late 1990s. While a $2.2 billion settlement—and relief from all farm-related debt—were promised to nearly 30,000 Black farmer claimants, justice remains elusive. In TENDING, a six-part audio documentary series, shirlette travels the Southeast and beyond to meet Pigford claimants and their descendants.