Chapter I: Part 1

Transcriber’s Note
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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE

MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR NO. 72

Washington, D. C. October, 1926

A DECADE OF
NEGRO EXTENSION WORK
1914-1924

Land ownership and home improvement
are vital in developing negro farm life
in the South.

CONTENTS

Page

Agricultural status of the negro 1

Development of negro extension work 3

Early history 3

Order of development 6

Value of cooperative association 8

Evolution of plan 10

Growth of personnel and finances 12

Cooperation with other agencies 13

Club work by negro boys and girls 14

The movable school 15

Stories of achievement 16

Demonstration results 21

Farm demonstration work 21

Home demonstration work 24

Agents’ activities 26

Outlook 27

Statistics 28

A DECADE OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK, 1914-1924

By O. B. MARTIN, in Charge, Southern States, Office of Cooperative Extension Work

AGRICULTURAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO

Home ownership is the largest factor in the solution of the so-called negro problem. Cooperative extension work, especially since the comprehensive organization of negro extension agents, has been one of the greatest influences in encouraging and helping negroes to become landowners and to succeed with land investments. Energetic negroes soon learn thrift and have the ability to become good demonstrators.

FIG. 1.—Negro home remodeled and beautified according to plans and
suggestions furnished by the negro extension agent. Home ownership
and improved living conditions are important factors in obtaining
a permanent upbuilding of the negro farm community in the South.
That negro agents are building well is indicated by their success
in influencing the construction of 569 new houses, the remodeling
of 1,002 old houses, and the beautification of 1,336 home grounds
during 1924.
]

In most parts of the Cotton Belt it has been possible during the last few years for farmers to make a good living and to make a profit besides. The migration to the North has perceptibly slackened, and thousands of negroes who have been getting good wages as carpenters, bricklayers, mechanics, and other artisans in near-by and distant cities are saving money to buy land. Many of them left their families at home and are sending them money for their support and for building savings accounts to be used in buying a farm home. (Fig. 1.) Of course, a large percentage will remain in the industrial centers of the North, but the negro’s love for his folks and for the soil will influence many to begin payments on farms at a time when wages are high and when such crops as cotton, tobacco, and peanuts are bringing good prices. Negroes, as a rule, know how to grow the cash crops, and it has been found in many sections that negroes succeed with poultry, truck, dairying, and other diversified interests when they own their own small farms.

Because of the inevitable economic changes resulting from the World War, many large plantations have been cut up and sold at low prices. In some sections of the South, chambers of commerce and other business organizations have been promoting campaigns to encourage negroes to become landowners. In 1920 about 217,500 negroes in the Southern States owned their farms and about 703,500 were tenants. In some States negroes have been buying farms faster than white people, and the rapid increase of ownership during the last five years is most noticeable. It is not surprising that it has taken a backward race a long time to acquire property and develop farms. It takes white agricultural college graduates quite a while to do that. The next 25 years unquestionably will witness a marked contrast to the first quarter of the century in this regard. It is well that the development is taking place along the lines of the negro’s training and disposition. All of this confirms the judgment of Booker T. Washington, the negro educator, who said:

The negro is, in my opinion, naturally a farmer, and he is at his
very best when he is in close contact with the soil. (Fig. 2.)
There is something in the atmosphere of the farm that develops
and strengthens the negro’s natural common sense. As a rule, the
negro farmer has a rare gift of getting at the sense of things
and of stating in picturesque language what he has learned. The
explanation of it is, it seems to me, that the negro farmer studies
nature. In his own way he studies the soil, the development of
plants and animals, the streams, the birds and the changes of the
seasons. He has a chance of getting at first-hand the kind of
knowledge that is valuable to him.

During the last few years many persons from different parts of Africa have visited this country to study our methods of industrial and agricultural education. Some of them have been Government officials, some teachers in schools and colleges, and some missionaries. They represented many different nationalities, all of which are interested in the welfare of dark-skinned people. Such visitors are always interested in Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes and usually have a scholastic point of view when they arrive. On their return, however, they are always enthusiastic about the men and women extension agents whose primary responsibility is to reach the farm and home. They see greater significance in demonstrations which proceed from the farm and home to the school than they do in those which go from the school to the farm. They seem to realize that the home is the fundamental unit of civilization and that the agents are the apostles of a better farm and home life, and therefore return to their work with an optimistic determination to encourage demonstration work in their countries.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEGRO EXTENSION WORK

EARLY HISTORY

Farmers’ cooperative demonstration work was begun in 1903. At first, all demonstration agents were white men and women. They enrolled negro demonstrators who followed instructions so faithfully and carefully that they were often more successful than white farmers and home makers. Many instances were reported of negro farmers who got started along the pathway of success because of the stimulation of such demonstrations. County agricultural agents often reported that 25 per cent of their demonstrators were negroes and that many negroes attended the field meetings and public demonstrations.

Booker T. Washington had a prominent part in beginning negro extension work in the South. Tuskegee Institute, which he founded in Alabama, already had carried instruction to negro farmers through its faculty, through farm conferences at Tuskegee and in local communities, and through printed bulletins. Doctor Washington also used a “Jesup wagon,” provided with agricultural equipment to go out among farmers and demonstrate better farming methods. Washington, H. B. Frissell, of Hampton Institute, Va., and Seaman A. Knapp of the United States Department of Agriculture, worked out the relation of Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes with the department and made arrangements for the appointment in 1906 of T. M. Campbell, of Tuskegee Institute, the first negro demonstration agent, and of J. B. Pierce, of Hampton Institute, a few days later.

In speaking of extension work a few years afterwards, Washington said:

It would be impossible to describe here all the ramifications or
all the various forms which this extension work has taken in recent
years. The thing that I wish to emphasize, however, is that we are
seeking in this work less to teach (according to the old-fashioned
notion of teaching) than to improve conditions.

His was a spirit of service. In the same connection he expressed in the following excerpt an unusual and unique opinion of the pedagogy of extension work. His experience and his observations constitute a great inspiration for negro extension agents and educators generally.

I have sometimes regarded it as a fortunate circumstance that I
never studied pedagogy. If I had done so, every time I attempted
to do anything in a new way I should have felt compelled to reckon
with all the past, and in my case that would have taken so much
time that I should never have got anywhere. As it was, I was
perfectly free to go ahead and do whatever seemed necessary at the
time, without reference to whether that same thing had ever been
done by anyone else at any previous time or not.

General Armstrong, who founded Hampton Institute in Virginia for Negroes and Indians in the reconstruction days immediately following the Civil War, expressed somewhat the same idea when he said:

Many teachers seem to me to have disproportionate ideas of the
forces that make up man. * * * There is plenty of study of methods
and not enough study of men or of the problems of life.

Negro home demonstration work was also developed through the interest and aid of white agents. White supervisory agents still take sympathetic interest in negro extension activities. In view of the fact that negro women and girls had always done much of the domestic labor in southern homes and because negro schools and colleges had given courses in home economics, home demonstration work for negroes was started in the best possible environment and atmosphere. Many white home demonstration agents and demonstrators took pleasure in giving instruction in gardening, canning, and preserving to negro women and girls whom they knew. But, as the work developed, it soon became apparent that negro women agents could get access to negro homes better than anybody else, so negro home demonstration agents began to be appointed. Annie Peters, of Boley, Okla., was appointed on January 23, 1912, as the first negro home demonstration agent, and Mattie Holmes, of Hampton Institute, Va., on May 24, 1912, as the second. Other appointments followed rapidly.

It has been possible to build up an extension organization in the South for negro people, because of such institutions as Hampton and Tuskegee. In fact, the influence of these two major institutions has affected all the schools and colleges where negro agents have been educated. Many smaller similar institutions have also contributed much to extension work. Table 1 gives the percentage of negro men and women extension agents who were graduated from Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes and from the State agricultural colleges.

TABLE 1.—_Percentage of negro extension agents who are college graduates_

—————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+———————————
Institution | Men | Women
—————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+———————————
| _Percentage_ | _Percentage_
Hampton Institute | 7.50 | 5.40
Tuskegee Institute | 10.16 | 5.40
State agricultural college | 9.09 | 2.70
+——————————————+———————————
Graduates of the three combined | 26.75 | 13.50
—————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+———————————

In beginning farm and home demonstration work for negroes in 1906, the cooperation of the General Education Board of New York was most valuable and effective. The board was liberal in its appropriations and generous in the arrangements for the expenditure of them. The money was turned over to the authorities of the United States Department of Agriculture to be used as they thought best in starting and promoting the work. It was because of the demonstrated success of this plan of education that the National, State, and county authorities were more disposed to support it.

When it is realized that various Southern States are gradually increasing the appropriations to the State agricultural colleges, and also that a $9,000,000 endowment fund for Hampton and Tuskegee is being completed, it is possible to look forward to better-trained negro agents. Progress can be faster now because the way is clear. Every Southern State now has a group of efficient negro agents, whose numbers are increasing. (Fig. 3.)

In view of the facts that Booker T. Washington gave the credit for his own success to the influence General Armstrong had over his life and that Tuskegee Institute is an extension and modified enlargement of Hampton Institute, it is well to trace a further development of such teaching and also to get the observation of the recognized leaders. Long before the World War and before the migration of negroes to the North, Booker T. Washington saw the South as the permanent home of his people and he urged them to develop the resources of climate, soil, forests, and folks. He saw conditions clearly and urged his people to train for skill, to practice thrift, and to grow better by doing better. This was the best of preparation for the negro agency force now in the field.

FIG. 3.—Virginia negro extension agents assembled at annual
meeting. This group is typical of the efficient negro extension
agents throughout the South who, with vision and good judgment,
are influencing negroes to follow the best methods of farming and
home making in order to increase their earning capacity and improve
their living conditions.
]

In the first farmers’ conference at Tuskegee in February, 1892, which, by the way, was the forerunner of farm congresses at agricultural colleges for white people in various parts of the country, the following resolution, among other important deliverances, was adopted:

In view of our general condition, we would suggest the following
remedies: (1) That as far as possible we aim to raise at home our
own meat and bread; (2) that as fast as possible we buy land,
even though a very few acres at a time; (3) that a larger number
of our young people be taught trades, and that they be urged to
prepare themselves to enter as largely as possible all the various
vocations of life; (4) that we especially try to broaden the
field of labor for our women; (5) that we make every sacrifice
and practice every form of economy that we may purchase land and
free ourselves from our burdensome habit of living in debt; (6)
that we urge our ministers and teachers to give more attention to
the material condition and home life of the people; (7) that we
urge our people not to depend entirely upon the State to provide
schoolhouses and lengthen the time of the schools, but to take
hold of the matter themselves where the State leaves off, and
by supplementing the public funds from their own pockets and by
building schoolhouses, bring about the desired results; (8) that
we urge patrons to give earnest attention to the mental and moral
fitness of those who teach their schools; (9) that we urge the
doing away with all sectarian prejudice in the management of the
schools.

ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT

FIG. 4.—Negro county agricultural agent helping a farmer to select
fattening hogs. Negro farmers desire helpful information on
specific things that can be put into immediate use with noticeable
results. In this respect, demonstration activities have rendered a
valuable service in meeting their needs.
]

It has been extension experience that negroes are especially responsive to the demonstration method, because of their faith, confidence, and optimism. Demonstrations have reached the most ignorant and most needy better than any form of academic instruction, because demonstrators must be doers before they become teachers. The effect and power of a demonstration are measured by the success of the enterprise and the standing and influence of the demonstrator. The demonstration method has proved to be not only the best for the ignorant, but also for the intelligent. Certainly the more intelligent farmers can carry object lessons further than the ignorant ones. Furthermore, it is safe to assume a fair amount of good farm and home development in an intelligent, prosperous community. Perhaps one reason why farmers tire of institutes and lectures is because they feel that they have reached a stage of knowledge where they can do things fairly well and have thus become teachers and leaders themselves. They do not care to accumulate a lot of information upon diverse subjects just for the purpose of acquiring information. They want usable knowledge upon specific things. (Fig. 4.) The negro has made sufficient progress for extension agents to find men, women, boys, and girls in every community who can demonstrate better farming and home making.

The history of extension work for negroes has not been exactly parallel to that of the whites in the Southern States. The white agents started work with men demonstrators, followed in succession by boys, girls, and women. Negro work started with men and women first. The agents tried to meet the most urgent needs of the farms and homes. At the time when the Department of Agriculture and State agricultural colleges first began to appoint negro agents, the club work of white boys and girls had drifted somewhat away from the demonstration feature and was emphasizing the club feature. When the negro agents began later to enroll boys and girls they did so because they felt that these young folks should have an influence in farming and in home making in their communities. It was not so much a matter of teaching and telling as it was of doing and growing. One agent expressed it by saying, “We are emphasizing work rather than clubs.” Of course, in the natural process of evolution, agents came to pay more attention to meetings, organization, recreation, and group activities in general, but the central theme is the demonstration.

Negro club members have manifested a disposition for the boy to do the farming and the girl the home making. That tendency is general in all extension work, of course, but the line of differentiation has not been so clear in adult activities. Because of the limited funds available, few counties have been able to afford both negro men and women agents. Thus it comes about that the men agents do more home work and the women agents more farm work than in counties employing both county agricultural and home demonstration agents. As time goes on and more agents are appointed, this matter will adjust itself.

During the present period of readjustment and reconstruction it is becoming more and more apparent to students of extension work that the greatest ultimate reform will take place where the most successful demonstration of content and size are conducted and where such demonstrations are multiplied in the greatest numbers. Many negro agents seem to have the ability to encourage their demonstrators and magnify the influence of their work. They have caught the philosophy of the founder of demonstration work, Seaman A. Knapp, when he said, “Your value lies not in what you can do but in what you can get other people to do.” Negro agents seem to appreciate the standing in the community of a man or woman who has done better work than anybody else. They enter into the thought and life of the demonstrator who estimated that more than 50 men in his neighborhood had been influenced by his success with 10 acres of cotton along the roadside. They know that the boy who said, “My club acre has been noticed by many people in this section and I am sure it will cause some of my boy friends to join the club next year,” had developed in himself the real spirit of service. They appreciate the feeling of pride and satisfaction that came to the girl club member who raised a dairy calf, built a good house for it, and then saw more than a dozen like it built within a radius of 5 miles of her home. (Fig. 5.) The result has been to make each person carrying on a demonstration feel that he has a responsibility as a leader and teacher in his community.

The culminating evidence of these efforts toward improvement through the object-lesson method is found in the results obtained in home and lawn beautification. Particularly in recent years negro extension agents have brought about marked progress in the renovation, painting, and whitewashing of houses and outbuildings, and in the growing of flowers, grass, and shrubbery in the front yards.

VALUE OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

FIG. 5.—Negro club member who made sufficient profit from the
sale of butter and buttermilk to pay her way through Tuskegee
Institute. The benefits which accrued through her club activities
were far-reaching in that her neighbors and friends were inspired
to follow the best dairy practices in an effort to emulate her
successful results.
]

Negro farmers have manifested considerable interest in cooperative marketing. They belong to cotton, tobacco, peanut, potato, and similar associations. They usually follow carefully instructions in grading and standardization. They appreciate the opportunity of purchasing fertilizers and other supplies through the farm bureau and other organizations engaged in such enterprises. In some counties where associations have given special attention to marketing carloads of hogs, chickens, potatoes, pecans, and other products produced in surplus quantities, the negroes do their share. It has come about that most marketing plans which have been developed include negroes in their operations better than any other form of productive and educational enterprise. In cooperative-marketing associations the commodity is considered rather than the person or the community. Clarendon County, S. C., is a very good example of such development. The market bureau, which was established at the suggestion of the county agricultural agent and which is conducted largely under his direction and guidance, has the names of more than 700 negroes on its mailing list. These negroes have cooperated not only by shipping potatoes, hogs, peanuts, chickens, and other commodities, but by procuring better seed and stock in order to grow products of better quality for shipment. As this work develops in any community it gradually brings about a general improvement. It begins with individuals but always influences the entire community. (Fig. 6.)

FIG. 6.—A demonstration of home conveniences designed to lighten
the labor of the negro home maker and allow her more time for
self-improvement and recreation. Such demonstrations by local men
or women have stimulated the adoption of good practices and have
done much to bring about a general community improvement.]

Such cooperation has increased self-respect and has strengthened mutual confidence. This activity has emphasized the fact that men and women limited in ambition and will power may be greatly stimulated to successful effort by the esteem and encouragement of their neighbors. The county agricultural agent of Clarendon County reported that every negro farmer in his county knows No. 1, No. 2, and Jumbo potatoes. He also reported that they are striving to produce No. 1’s because they realize that products of such quality will receive the commendation of everybody concerned and also will bring in larger returns. This realization of the value of superior products has brought about a great improvement in the type of chickens, pigs, and other farm animals raised for market.

Marketing has tended to unify and systematize extension organization in the counties more than any other work that has been done thus far. It has enlisted the active interest of all farmers, both white and colored, and of local business men. Some of the counties which will have full quotas of both white and colored extension agents, and good representative working organizations are developing extension programs to a fuller degree than has been possible heretofore. It is an enormous task to change the customs and habits of centuries or even of decades. Negroes who have grown practically nothing but cotton are slow to become dairymen, poultrymen, and truckers. They change mainly because of economic necessity.

EVOLUTION OF PLAN

The evolution of an agricultural plan of work among negroes, in a general way, followed that of the whites. It began with demonstrations in the improvement of staple crops and then proceeded step by step into crop diversification, animal husbandry, and conservation. The whole development may be briefly expressed as follows: Crop production, livestock production, soil building, and marketing. Fortunately, this program is so logical and so appropriate that demonstrators and club members are naturally disposed to follow it. This does not mean that they all do the same things at the same time. In livestock activities, one group may be emphasizing dairy cattle and another hogs. The retroactive influence upon crop production in one direction and soil improvement in another is very potent. Seaman A. Knapp evidently had this whole evolution in mind, and he was familiar with the work among negroes, when he told the agents not to go before the people with elaborate programs. He said: “The average man, like the crow, can not count more than three. Do the next thing.” General Armstrong was dealing with the same people and, to some extent, with the same thought when he said, “I try to get at bottom facts, and then take the next step.”

A general agricultural plan of work, of course, is applicable everywhere at any time. It is flexible, and requires individual initiative and resourcefulness. The more experienced farmers and club boys will be in the advanced stages while the novices will be taking the first step. The whole procedure goes forward in cycles. As each cycle comes around, modification and adaptation take place in accordance with the progress science has made in the meantime. For instance, in corn demonstrations in most parts of the South, where, in former years, farmers planted one-ear varieties, they are now using prolific varieties, especially where interplantings of peas and beans and where hogging down and grazing are to be done.

The Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station recently came to the conclusion that vetch is the best winter legume for most of the soils in Alabama. Thousands of negro farmers have accepted that instruction and are using vetch as a winter legume and soil improver. The negro farmers have also accepted the teachings of the experiment station in regard to the kinds and quantities of fertilizers to be used.

The negro home program also has been developed through certain logical processes, which may be indicated briefly as follows: Production, utilization, construction, and beautification. This, too, is a natural program which may be followed consciously and intuitively by every person who is properly started in the work. The negro women and girls commence with growing vegetables in the gardens, beginning with the most needed food crops and enlarging their operations gradually. Then they undertake to conserve enough for home use during the winter. They sell the surplus vegetables, both fresh and canned. It is an easy step from canning vegetables to the preservation of fruits. Better bread comes next because of its importance as food and because flour, meal, and grains in general are available. Then eggs and butter are standardized, and poultry meat is properly cooked and canned. Such activities, in turn, stimulate better work with pork, beef, and other meats.

Success in such enterprises suggests and encourages home improvement, involving demonstrations in rearranging kitchens, living rooms, and homes in general. Better furniture is procured and paint and whitewash are in demand. Demonstrations with textiles and fabrics are considered incidentally all along. The girls and women want simple neat dresses in their work. The club idea suggests uniforms for public demonstrations and meetings. In hundreds of instances the program culminates with an attractive new home in a setting of trees, shrubbery, and flowers. Such a self-developed program, the germs of which exist in the plans and hopes of the people who are actually doing the work on the farms and in the homes, is infinitely more important than one developed for them.

It is fortunate that negro extension work started with demonstrations by individual farmers instead of with organization for instruction purposes. Organization arose spontaneously. People who did the same kind of work in the same way were easily organized. Negro farmers and members of their families who had the same kind of poultry, for instance, and who built the same kind of houses, were brought together for mutual stimulation, help, and instruction. Every farmer who had an object lesson in growing vetch, soy beans, velvet beans, or peanuts was glad to join a tour to see similar activities on farms in other parts of his county. Field meetings, tours, camps, and short courses have the elements and principles of organization within them. They constitute a focus or converging point for activities that are mutual. If the white agents who did negro work in the beginning or the negro agents who took it up later had proceeded on an organization basis first, the whole proposition would have been misunderstood by both white and colored people.

Observation of the experience of the people who made negro extension work possible and its success notable, naturally calls attention to the elementary methods which have been used. The various processes may be stated in a half dozen words: Consultation, demonstration, emulation, publication, organization, and multiplication. Whether the agents are working with the approximately 217,500 negroes who own their own farms or with the 703,500 who are tenants, deliberation, conference, and good judgment are required to establish the work without creating friction. In the pioneer counties, where the demonstrations were most successful, the introduction was done in a quiet way. The general public did not know much about it until good object lessons in crop production were available, and nothing prevents or stops criticism so readily as successful demonstrations. If the demonstrators have been carefully selected, if they are men whose conduct has been exemplary, the conviction is all the stronger.

The first negro demonstrators were proud to wear the button furnished by the Department of Agriculture containing the word “Demonstrator.” These buttons were often given out in churches as awards of merit and distinction. Negroes are very susceptible to commendation and praise. It means a lot to a man, woman, boy, or girl, who has started out on a demonstration program, to receive recognition from his pastor, his neighbors, and especially from the leading white citizens. Whenever a county paper calls attention to the outstanding results obtained by a negro farmer, he immediately measures up to the added responsibility and goes forward on the path of improvement. Whenever there is a considerable number of demonstrators of that kind, it is safe to do organization work along agricultural and home-economics lines. In fact, negroes who have demonstrated that kind of enterprise and dependability are ready for cooperative marketing or other welfare organization. The great task that is before the negro extension force is to multiply the numbers of good demonstrators. In this way, they will develop leaders and magnify the kind of activities which will meet with universal approval.

GROWTH OF PERSONNEL AND FINANCES[1]

The gradual increase in the number of negro agents and also in the appropriations for their support during the last 10 years gives much promise for the development of this work in the future. On June 30, 1915, the end of the first year under the Smith-Lever Act, 49 negro men agents and 17 women agents were employed, and the total cost of the work during the year was $31,589. In 1919, 459 negro men and women agents were employed and the cost was $247,509. On June 30, 1924, the end of the first decade under the Smith-Lever Act, 299 agents were employed, of whom 191 were men and 108, women. The total amount expended during the fiscal year 1924 was $426,266, which was derived from Federal, State, and county sources, and which represented the peak in the amount of money devoted to this work. More agents were employed during the war period, but many of them devoted only part time to extension work. All things considered, therefore, negro extension work is making steady and substantial progress every year.

From Table 3, page 28, it will be noted that the increase in the number of negro extension agents and in the cost of maintaining them went forward in two distinct stages during the 10-year period immediately following the enactment of the Smith-Lever Act. The number of agents and the number of club members increased very rapidly during the World War, which was followed by a period of unrest and transition. After that came a settling down and then an era of solid and substantial development. There has been a gradual and steady increase in the amount of money devoted to negro extension work. Although it is true that not so many agents were on duty in 1924 as in 1919, yet more than four times as many were employed in 1924 as in 1915. Furthermore, the finances had increased more than a dozenfold. This indicates a better-trained class of negro agents and a greater public willingness to support negro extension work.

Texas, which receives more Federal money than any other State, had 36 negro agents in 1924 and spent $55,424 for their salaries, travel, and other necessary expenses. Alabama had 34 negro agents, men and women, and $50,057 was spent in the maintenance of their work. Mississippi had 36 agents and the cost was $48,876. Virginia had a total of 34 agents and the cost of maintaining this force was $44,787. Georgia had 26 agents and expended $30,452. Several other States have a large agency force and the financial support is becoming more and more liberal.

The percentage of negroes to whites is different in each of the Southern States and this fact would be taken into consideration in any study of appropriations for negro work. At the last census, Georgia had 1,689,114 white people and 1,206,365 negroes; Mississippi, 853,962 whites and 935,184 negroes; Alabama, 1,447,032 whites and 900,652 negroes; South Carolina, 818,538 whites and 864,719 negroes; North Carolina, 1,783,779 whites and 763,407 negroes; Texas, 3,918,165 whites and 741,694 negroes; Virginia, 1,617,909 whites and 690,017 negroes; and Oklahoma, 1,821,194 whites and 149,408 negroes.

It will be observed from Table 3 that practically all of the States which took up negro extension work first have the greatest financial support and the largest number of agents in proportion to their negro population. Alabama and Virginia appointed their first negro agents in 1906; Mississippi, in 1908; Georgia and South Carolina, in 1909; Oklahoma, in 1910; North Carolina, in 1911; and the other States in rapid succession.

It is greatly to the credit of the pioneer agents that their work has met with the approval of county commissioners, boards of education, and public authorities generally. Nothing is quite so encouraging about the whole development as the wholesome public sentiment which has sustained the work and encouraged the agents. This support is based upon knowledge of good work done and results achieved. A large metropolitan daily paper, speaking of the present work of the man who was the first negro agent appointed by the United States Department of Agriculture, said:

His principal duties are to see that negro county agricultural
agents obtain outline maps of each county and properly distribute
the work; that at least one house in each county is built at
stated intervals according to an approved plan; that one or more
electric lighting systems be undertaken in the county; that at
least one house be whitewashed or painted in each demonstration
community; that one or more water systems be undertaken in each
county; that at least one farmstead home grounds be developed in
each community; that at least one sanitary toilet be constructed
in each demonstration community; that at least one crop-rotation
demonstration be given; that one or more permanent pastures be
established; that at least one person in each community be taught
the use of the farm level; that one year-round garden demonstration
be established; that at least one farm be properly laid out
or plotted in each county; that one playground be equipped in
each community; and that one or more demonstration orchards be
established in each county.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Funds for cooperative extension work are appropriated for fiscal years ending on June 30, whereas extension agents are required to prepare their reports for calendar years. For this reason, statements of funds appearing in this section and in Table 3 are for fiscal years ended on June 30, and statistics of demonstration results appearing in a following section are for the calendar year ended Dec. 31, 1924.

COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES

From several years’ experience it has been found that negro agents cooperate closely with their schools and churches. Negro preachers have great power and influence among their people, not only in matters of religion, but also in farming and home making. Wherever an agent obtains the indorsement of a negro pastor, and also gets this pastor to do some good farming and make his home more attractive, he gets assistance that is impossible to obtain from any other source. A negro industrial school in a county is usually a center of influence in extension work as well as in public service generally. Such a school reenforces the instruction given by the agents and is a gathering place for demonstrators and club members. The demonstration activities improve and enhance the school work to a considerable degree.

In addition to the cooperation given by churches and schools, many organizations have assisted negro extension agents in carrying out local extension programs. Much assistance in this respect has been accorded by vocational educational workers, negro chambers of commerce, lodges, health societies, negro farmers’ unions, federations of women’s clubs, and others.

CLUB WORK BY NEGRO BOYS AND GIRLS

As has already been indicated, 4-H club work among negro boys and girls has been a secondary development, but it is now going forward by leaps and bounds. The work by negro agents among adult negroes was just getting well started when the Smith-Lever Act was passed. The effect of the act and of the increase of funds resulting from it was to strengthen and reenforce what was being done for negro farmers and home makers. As was to be expected, the boys and girls soon wanted to follow in the footsteps of their fathers and mothers. (Fig. 7.) There are excellent prospects for junior extension work in the near future. In fact, negro boys and girls have been making records that are stimulating white club members to greater effort and endeavor.

At the close of the 10-year period there was a total enrollment in 4-H club work in the Southern States of 21,721 negro boys and 27,114 negro girls. These figures show a big increase since 1916, when the enrollment of 2,551 negro club members was first recorded separately. At that time the State club agents suggested that negro boys should be organized into farm-makers’ clubs and negro girls into homemakers’ clubs. Prior to that time many negro boys and girls were enrolled in 4-H clubs, but they did not have such different classification as to make their work stand out and receive proper emphasis and recognition.

The end of the 10-year period also found a great many negro boys and girls demonstrating to their parents, their neighbors, and the world that they can clear $200 to $300 a year on their club enterprises and at the same time keep up regular attendance at school during the term provided for them by their respective counties and States. A 14-year-old boy or girl who can put $100 or more into a bank and continue saving each year as he or she grows older is assured of an education and a start in life. This gives the younger generation a big advantage and also furnishes a great inspiration to the agents who are working among these people. More work of this kind will result in considerable advance on the part of the younger generation of negroes.

THE MOVABLE SCHOOL

A development peculiar to negro extension work is the movable school. This is an automobile truck carrying equipment for demonstrations and accompanied by an automobile conveying instructors. (Fig. 8.) The equipment consists of farm and home tools and utensils necessary to illustrate better methods of farming and home making. The school goes to a home where arrangements have already been made by the local agent, and stays from one to three days. The novelty of the outfit and the rather spectacular nature of the occasion guarantee a good attendance of people from the vicinity where the work is to be done.

FIG. 8.—Negro movable school which carries equipment and
instructors to local communities where the better ways of farming
and home making are demonstrated. Such movable schools have
supplemented the work of the local negro extension agent, who
follows up and impresses on the community the lessons brought out.]

The local agents and the instructors agree in advance upon what is to be done. The program includes such things as pruning trees, terracing land, plowing properly, building a chicken house, building a sanitary privy, grading fruit, eggs, and vegetables, dressing chickens, making fireless cookers, canning, making work dresses and aprons, and whitewashing or painting the house and outbuildings. The people in attendance are divided into small groups and several enterprises are carried on at the same time. After the various jobs are completed, the whole crowd makes a tour of inspection and much incidental instruction is driven home by those in charge. In addition to having specialists in farming and home making, the school usually carries a public-health nurse who gives much needed instruction and demonstration. A necessary part of the equipment is a projector for showing films and slides during meetings at the school or church. Equipment is also carried to facilitate games and play for a short time every day after the regular work is done.

In view of the fact that much interest has been manifested in the movable school, it may be desirable to consider it from a strictly extension point of view. First, in the communities where the negro population is densest and where their welfare has been most neglected, more simple instruction and demonstration by the specialists and agents themselves are necessary. Just as fast as the farmers can make object lessons and assume leadership themselves, just so fast should that responsibility be passed on to them. Second, the movable school supplements the work of the local agent and is supplemented by it. When a home with its premises has been renovated and practically reconstructed by the visit of a movable school, and when the farmer and his family revolutionize their methods on the farm, then the question arises as to how many more farmers can be influenced to do likewise. The movable school does much to lay out the work of the agents, and if they do not follow up such work and impress its lessons, then little benefit is derived. However, the influence can be measured more successfully a year after the visit of the movable school than the day after.

By request of leading white citizens of Dallas County, Ala., the movable school concentrated there for a month and covered the whole county. Many plantation owners, bankers, and business men visited the school and saw it in action. Their commendation was most encouraging and inspires the hope that this enterprise may be used to facilitate the reform and readjustment of farm and home life among negro farmers who are to remain in the South and improve their conditions. A prominent English woman, who recently visited a movable school, was most favorably impressed. Her only criticism was that it was liable to cause confusion because of the wealth of instruction given in so short a time. She thought that the instruction included more than could be assimilated and utilized in a week. She rather facetiously remarked that it would not surprise her if some of the women were to go home and put their babies down in water glass and make “pinless outfits” for the eggs. Her observation still further confirmed the belief that the movable school and the local agents should be mutually helpful.

STORIES OF ACHIEVEMENT

A few typical stories taken from numerous narratives of success quoted by negro extension agents will suffice to give trends and tendencies. Floyd Stokes, of Gloucester County, Va., told the following story of the help given him through extension work (fig. 9):

When I got married back in 1903, I left home to begin life as a
renter. The little house to which I moved was on 3 acres of land
which I worked when not engaged in fishing or oystering. After
having lived on this place three years, a young man, the first
demonstration agent I had ever heard of, came to me and began
talking soil improvement and how I could make a living out of it.
Just about this time the agent induced me to buy 9 acres of land
near by which were for sale. Four of these acres had been cleared
and there was an old house on the land that had been used as a
barn. I sawed some timber, had some doors and windows made for the
barn, and moved into my own home.

Under the instruction of the agent I planted the 3 rented acres to
melons and sowed cowpeas between the rows at the last cultivation
to be turned under as green manure. This crop of melons netted
me $300. On the 4 cleared acres I began soil building and the
rotation of crops, as follows: In the spring I sowed cowpeas
for hay, followed by crimson clover, which was turned under the
following spring and planted to corn. Cowpeas were sown at the
last cultivation. A good crop of corn was produced the first year.
The cornland was planted to garden peas the next year, followed
by crimson clover to be turned under and by potatoes the year
following. The potatoes were followed by cowpeas, which were cut
for hay in the fall. In the meantime, I had cleared the other 5
acres on which I planted melons, followed by crimson clover to be
turned under for soil improvement.

FIG. 9.—Farm home and buildings of Floyd Stokes, of Gloucester
County, Va., an outstanding negro farmer who attributes his unusual
success to following the advice and suggestions of the negro
extension agent. ]

Back in the early days when I began work with the agent, my land
was very thin and light, being of a sandy texture; hence, it would
not produce over 15 bushels to the acre. By following closely the
system of crop rotation taught me, the same land is producing at
this time an average of 45 bushels of corn per acre and other crops
are doing equally well. From a sand bed, my land has been brought
to a high state of cultivation.

In the fourth year after I had bought my first 9 acres, I purchased
7 additional acres. From 1911 to 1917 I rented 13 acres adjoining
the 16 acres I owned. At the expiration of this period I succeeded
in buying this piece of land, paying cash for it at the rate of
$100 per acre. Two years later I bought 20 acres more for which
I paid $3,000 in cash, making my total holdings at this time 49
acres. The land on which my house stands cost me $800. I have since
been offered $6,000 for it. On the 20-acre plot is a good house
which I rent out, although the land is retained for my own use.

In 1923 I began to remodel my house. The necessary timber was cut
from the 20 acres purchased last. I planned to add all modern
conveniences to the house. A lighting system has been installed and
I plan to put in a complete water system next year. I have sheds
for housing the farm tools when not in use, and insist that they
be kept there. My net income averages around $2,000 per year. I
have sold $1,600 worth of green peas this season and just to-day
received $300 in small checks from neighboring farmers for seeds
and plants grown by me. My farm is self-supporting. I do not buy
anything that I can grow, and sell all surplus crops. I have eight
children, all of whom are being educated as fast as they are ready
for it. Two of my children are graduates of Hampton Institute.

I was one of the first to take up demonstration work in Gloucester
County and through it showed that money could be made out of
growing garden peas and other truck crops. Since most people at
that time were practicing fishing and oystering, no one believed
that truck gardening could be successful. When my success became
known, one after the other began to take it up until to-day
Gloucester County has become a great trucking center.

What success I have had in land buying, soil improvement, home
making, and education of my children may be credited to the
extension service through its agents who have rendered me most
valuable service for which I am deeply grateful.

In Gloucester County, Va., more than 90 per cent of the heads of negro families own their own homes, the jail is usually empty, and the courts have little to do.

FIG. 10.—Herschell Glenn, of Rockdale County, Ga., who made
a profit of over $265 through club work in 1924. (Photograph
furnished by Georgia Extension Service)
]

One of the best records made in boys’ club work in 1924 was made by Herschell Glenn, of Rockdale County, Ga. (Fig. 10.) He made a profit of over $265 on his club work during the year and also had for his own use 15 bushels of corn and a pig weighing 200 pounds. He has had the satisfaction of knowing that his good work has aroused and inspired hundreds of other boys in Georgia, including a large number in his own community and county, who will try to excel his record in 1925. In reporting to his local agent he used the following simple and expressive language:

I had 2 acres in cotton. My total cost was $31.50; the total amount
of seed cotton, 3,150 pounds; total value of seeds and lint cotton,
$289.52; net profit, $265.85; and net profit per acre, $132.90.
My corn did not do so well. I only got 15 bushels from my acre. I
hope to do better next year. My pig is fine. I have fed her six
months. She weighs 200 pounds. I am proud to be a club boy and will
continue next year.

A negro home demonstration agent in Wayne County, N. C., gave a very good statement which indicates what is being done by negro women agents in changing home conditions. It will be noted that she followed the desirable plan of putting other people forward to give testimony and express the sentiments of her people. There is a fine recognition of individual effort and community cooperation in this method of reporting which might well be commended to extension workers generally.

I have been in the county two years and seven months. It is a
pleasure to note the improvement of the people along every line.
They eat better food, sleep in more fresh air, are happier at work,
take better care of their children, have higher ideals, and have
learned to sell the surplus food instead of wasting it and to buy
things which they need. More important than tangible results are
their changed ideas and attitude toward the work. One man speaking
at a community meeting said: “The agent has put new life into
dead bones. I feel better and am doing better and everybody in
the neighborhood is doing better whether he belongs to the club
or not.” In the same meeting a woman said: “I am 57 years of age,
have 20 children, 45 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren, but
have learned more in two years about caring for children, my home,
and health than I had learned in 55 years before. I have 7 milk
cows and 75 hens. I sell eggs, milk, butter, apples, peanuts, and a
few other little things and now I can see day breaking. I am just
learning how to live.”

The negro home demonstration agent of Autauga County, Ala., sketches a general outline of progress which goes into a little more detail in regard to the various activities. She says:

Gardening is no longer a part-time project, but is carried on
through the year by both women and girls engaged in club work. We
have been able to keep vegetables the year round, even though we
have had a long dry spell. The number of insects and other pests,
such as worms and plant lice, have been kept down by the constant
use of soapsuds and wood ashes. Our winter gardens are doing fine.
I feel that beautifying the home and surroundings should get first
consideration, due to the fact that most of the time is spent in
the house. Homes have been whitewashed, yards cleaned, and flowers
planted in each case. Instructions have been given from time to
time in the care and handling of a cow and the care and handling
of milk in the home. Very few women are taking this instruction,
but these few are making and saving money. One separator and six
sanitary milk pails have been bought this year. We have worked hard
this year with poultry, trying to do away with scrubs and put in
more standard breeds. I have succeeded in getting 30 women and 5
girls to buy standard-bred eggs. As a result we have 1,300 more
standard-bred chickens this year than we had last year. Our aim is
to turn out 100 pullets on each yard.

Canaan community in Montgomery County, Ala., furnishes a fine example of the ultimate objective of home demonstration work among negroes. It is a good illustration of the fact that demonstrations are progressive. When one step is taken and success is achieved, the very situation is a stimulus to additional steps until the whole home and its environment become an inspiring object lesson of better living. The following story indicates that practically all the homes in that community are in various stages of advancement in extension work: