- Nov. 18, 2026 4:45 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland to Honor Leah Penniman at 2026 Margaret Brent Lecture
St. Mary’s College of Maryland will welcome acclaimed farmer, educator, author, and organizer Leah Penniman as the honoree and featured speaker for the 2026 Margaret Brent Lecture, one of the College’s most distinguished lecture traditions.
The lecture will take place on Wednesday, November 18, at 4:45 p.m. in Cole Cinema at the Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Established in 1981, the Margaret Brent Lecture honors women whose public service, leadership, scholarship, and advocacy have made significant contributions to society. Each honoree is inducted into the Order of Margaret Brent and presented with a College medallion in recognition of her achievements.
Over the past four decades, the lecture has brought distinguished leaders and thinkers to St. Mary’s College, including Rosa Parks, Betty Friedan, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Toni Morrison, and Angela Davis. Recent honorees include Linda Sarsour, Sarah Deer, and Isa Noyola.
The 2026 Margaret Brent Lecture will honor Leah Penniman for her influential work advancing food sovereignty, sustainability, racial justice, and collective action.
Penniman is the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm and training center in rural New York dedicated to addressing racism in the food system and cultivating food sovereignty. Through her work as a farmer, educator, and organizer, she has helped create farmer-training programs for Black and Brown communities, food distribution initiatives serving communities affected by food apartheid, and organizing efforts that advance greater equity within food systems in the United States and internationally.
She is also the author of Farming While Black and Black Earth Wisdom, books that bring together agricultural knowledge, cultural traditions, history, and practical tools for building more just and sustainable food systems.
Penniman’s selection as the 2026 Margaret Brent honoree is especially meaningful in light of St. Mary’s College’s 2026 campus theme, “What Is Community?” Her work offers a powerful examination of how communities can draw upon collective knowledge, cultural traditions, and shared action to create more equitable and sustainable systems.
“Community” is central to Penniman’s work: from cultivating land and supporting farmers to expanding food access and strengthening movements for food sovereignty. Her approach invites audiences to consider not only how communities are formed, but also how they can work together to address longstanding inequities and imagine new possibilities for the future.
The Margaret Brent Lecture continues the College’s longstanding tradition of bringing distinguished women whose ideas and achievements have shaped public life into conversation with the St. Mary’s community.
2026 Margaret Brent Lecture: Featuring Leah Penniman
Wednesday, November 18, 2026
4:45 p.m.
Cole Cinema, Campus Center
St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Free and open to the public.
This event is sponsored by:
Women, Gender and Sexuality Program (WGSX), Department of Environmental Studies, Arts Alliance, and Lecture and Fine Arts