In 2022, shirlette traveled to 6 states to 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.