Journey with "Making It Grow" to St. Helena Island near Beaufort, South Carolina, for a look at the legacy and future of indigo.
At Marshview Community Organic Farm, we visit an indigo workshop hosted by the International Center for Indigo Culture (ICIC), where farmers, artists, and students come together to learn how to grow indigo and transform it into vibrant natural dye.
Farmer Sarah Green shares the history of her land—once worked by her enslaved ancestors and later purchased by her family after the Civil War—and how she continues that legacy today by engaging local schoolchildren in farming and education. She also highlights her family’s broader commitment to cultural preservation, as her husband teaches youth how to prepare the vegetables they grow into dishes at his restaurant, The Gullah Grub Restaurant.
We also hear from ICIC representative Heather Powers, who shares the mission behind the organization’s work. She explains how ICIC is helping revive indigo as both an agricultural crop and a cultural tradition in the Southeast—providing farmers with the knowledge and hands-on training needed to successfully grow, harvest, and process indigo into dye.
That connection between tradition and innovation continues with researcher and professor Dr. Florence Anoruo of SC State University, whose work explores the science and potential of indigo while engaging students directly in the field.
Textile artist Arianne King Comer reflects on the artistry and cultural legacy of indigo, sharing how the dye has long been a form of expression, identity, and storytelling, and how she especially enjoys teaching school children about the process and the art behind it, helping pass this tradition on to the next generation.
Precious Jennings, a movement artist, then walks us through the full dye-making process from the harvesting the plant, to submerging indigo in large vats for 24 hours, to the next-day chemical and physical processes that develop the dye, and the different techniques used to apply it to cloth.
From soil to color, past to present, this segment highlights how indigo continues to connect community, history, and innovation in the Lowcountry.
