Smith, James W.

English

Research Papers in Economics

THE CONTRIBUTIONS  OF BLACK AMERICANS  TO
AGRICULTURAL  EXTENSION  AND  RESEARCH*
James W. Smith
Virginia  State University
I have been asked to speak on "The  Contributions  of Black Ameri-
cans to Agricultural  Extension  and  Research"  with emphasis  on the
period of 1860-1920. In comformity with this topic, I shall consider the
contributions  of black  Americans  to  agricultural  extension  and  re-
search  in terms of the  agents themselves, the influence  of the  black
land-grant colleges  and Tuskegee Institute, and in terms of the clien-
tele they served.
Any consideration  of the contributions  of black  Americans to  agri-
cultural extension and research during this period, however, must be-
gin  with  Justin  Smith  Morrill  and  the  Land-Grant  College  Act,
commonly  known  as the Morrill  Act,  signed  by President  Abraham
Lincoln on July  2,  1862. This act, although  supposedly extending ag-
ricultural extension  and research  to farmers throughout the country,
made  no provisions for the use of land-grant funds for blacks. There-
fore, except for four states (Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and
Virginia)  which allocated portions of their funds for use at black col-
leges  in 1871,  and the Hatch Act  of 1887, it was not until the second
Morrill  Act of 1890,  and the  Smith-Lever  Act  of May  8,  1914,  that
blacks were officially  incorporated  into the system  of cooperative  ex-
tension and research.
History  tells  us, however,  that blacks  were  involved  in extension
and research  long before the Smith-Lever Act. As early as  1889 farm-
ers' institutes and conferences  were held in different states to provide
black farmers  with  information  related  to the improvement  of farm
and home life.  College experiment  station personnel,  physicians, and
other specialists provided demonstrations and lectures to black farm-
ers  and homemakers  in order to improve their health and happiness.
One major factor contributing  to the success  of black Americans  in
agricultural extension and research  during the period,  however,  was
the establishment  of the black  land-grant colleges. These institutions
were created to provide instruction, extension education, and research
*Remarks  presented in  conjunction with the  opening  night reception  and dinner.
3in  agriculture,  home  economics,  and  the mechanical  arts. Their con-
tribution  to  extension  and research  is,  therefore,  a  success  story  of
major  proportion  when  put  into  proper  perspective.  An  experiment
station  was  established in Prairie  View  A&M  of Texas in  1888  with
Hatch  Act  Funds.  This  institution's  faculty  conducted  experimental
and  demonstration  projects  to  improve  practices  and  techniques  of
farmers.  Foremost  in  agricultural  research  during  the period,  how-
ever,  was Tuskegee Institute. After the arrival of George Washington
Carver  and the  establishment  of the State  Agricultural  Experiment
Station at Tuskegee in  1879, agricultural extension agents and farm-
ers were  privileged  to have  as a consultant  on farming  methods the
most distinguished  agricultural  scientist  in the United  States.  Both
black and white farmers marveled at Carver's ability to make the land
produce.  Where they had been digging 37 bushels of sweet potatoes to
the  acre,  he  dug  266  bushels.  Where  the  average  southern  farmer
raised  less than 200 pounds  of cotton  to the acre,  Carver raised  500.
In addition, the Tuskegee experiment station published pamphlets  on
"How  to  Grow the Peanut and  105  ways  of Preparing  It for Human
Consumption",  "How to Raise Pigs with Little Money",  "When, What,
and How  to Can  and Preserve  Fruits  and Vegetables  in the  Home",
and  "A  New  Prolific  Variety  of Cotton".  Largely  as  a result of Tus-
kegee's  efforts,  more than  500  of the  3800  black  farmers  in  Macon
County,  Ala.,  owned their farms by 1910,  and more than 90  percent
of the total were either owners or cash renters.
Moreover,  Dr.  Carver  taught  southern  farmers  to  diversify  their
crops by planting soil-enriching peanuts and sweet potatoes instead of
soil-exhausting cotton, and he sought new uses for surplus foodstuffs.
In his laboratory  he developed  300 synthetic  products  from peanuts,
including milk, butter,  cheese,  flour, breakfast  food,  ink,  dyes,  soap,
wood  stain,  and insulating  board.  From  the  sweet potato  came  118
products,  including  tapioca,  starch,  vinegar,  molasses,  library  paste,
and rubber.  Pecan nuts were used to produce  60 useful products.  Soy
beans, cotton, cow peas, and wild plums yielded valuable new products.
Synthetic  marble  was  produced  from  wood  shavings;  blue,  red,  and
purple pigments were produced from Alabama clays; mats and carpets
from okra fiber;  and fertilizers from the muck of swamps.  All of these
inventions and discoveries ultimately enhanced the quality  of life for
farmers and urban workers throughout the United States and the world.
Carver  gave his inventions freely to mankind, refusing large sums
which were  repeatedly  offered for their commercial  exploitation.  His-
torians  agree  that  Carver's  scientific  achievements  were  one  of the
vitally  important  factors  in the  economic  and  social  progress  of the
South. The  peanut  industry  of this country  and around the world  is
indebted to Dr. Carver for demonstrating the commercial possibilities
of peanuts and many of the products  on the world market today. Sim-
ilarly,  his  genius  with  the  sweet  potato  was  internationally  pro-
claimed.
4Given  the enormous  restraints  under  which black  land-grant  col-
leges were compelled to operate then, their contribution to agricultural
extension  and research was nothing less than phenomenal.  Although
often lacking funds for extension work and research, and having their
mission and scope reduced to that of "Normal  Schools," the  16 histor-
ically black  land-grant  colleges  and Tuskegee  contributed their  fair
share to  agricultural  extension  and research.  Their  agriculture  and
home  economics  faculties  were instrumental  in equipping  extension
agents  with the skills  they  needed  to carry out extension  programs
and to provide  rural people with knowledge  and materials needed for
the implementation  of improved farm and home practices. In addition,
their contributions  were made through agents'  conferences,  farm  and
homemakers'  short  courses,  farmers'  workshops,  4-H  short  courses,
and through extension courses  for agents  in the field.
The most significant factor in black Americans' contributions to ag-
riculture  extension  and  research,  however,  was  the farm  and  home
demonstration  agents.  They were,  in the words  of Sam Foss, the pi-
oneer souls that  blazed their paths  where  highways  never  ran,  and
lived  by the  side  of the road  and  were  great  friends  to  man.  They
carried  the  torch  of agricultural  extension  and  research  along  the
highways  and byways  of rural America,  raising expectation,  and im-
proving their methods and techniques  in farming  and homemaking.
The initial step in the establishment of extension work among blacks
is accredited to Booker T. Washington,  the founder  of Tuskegee Insti-
tute.  In  1892,  two years  following the passage  of the  second  Morrill
Act,  Washington  sought  to improve  farm practices  and living  stan-
dards among blacks in Alabama by sponsoring farm conferences at his
school. Later, he purchased a wagon and equipped it with farm imple-
ments and supplies  and dispatched  it,  together  with  a teacher  from
Tuskegee's  Agricultural  Department,  to  farmers'  homes  to  demon-
strate better  methods  of farming  and  home  life.  The  success  of this
experiment  was  almost immediate.  After three months  of operation,
Washington presented  Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, known as the father  of
extension,  the idea of the moveable  school,  and urged him to appoint
black extension agents to serve black farmers. At first, Knapp rejected
the  idea of using black extension  agents.  However, in  1906,  Thomas
M.  Campbell  was appointed  extension  agent in Macon  County,  Ala.,
and thus  became  the  first black  agricultural  extension  agent  to  be
employed by the federal government. He was followed a few days later
on Dec. 14, with the appointment of John B. Pierce of Hampton Insti-
tute, as the first black  extension agent in the Commonwealth  of Vir-
ginia. Pierce served in Gloucester County from 1906 to 1908 and went
on to  become district  agent and eventually  field agent  for the lower
South.  By  1913,  there were  36  such  country  agents  serving  in nine
southern states and by 1920 black farm and home demonstration agents
were making sizable in-roads  in helping farmers improve their meth-
ods and home management.  Farm and homemakers  clubs were  orga-
5nized  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  practical  agriculture  and  home
economics;  wives participated in needle work, cooking, preserving, and
canning  activities;  farmers  received  demonstrations  and instruction
on  the most advanced  farming methods,  crop  production,  soil conser-
vation,  cooperative  buying  and  selling,  home  improvement,  and  on
other  subjects  associated  with the  goals  and objectives  of extension
service. The service rendered by these farm and home extension agents
not  only  improved the quality  of life for blacks in the rural  areas,  it
also raised their expectations  and gave them hope for a better tomor-
row.
Black farm and home demonstration  agents gave of themselves and
they were  committed to improving the living conditions  of the people
whom  they served.  They  worked  long hours  and  adjusted  to  adverse
conditions  by  sometimes  buying  their  own  field  equipment  so they
could  conduct  demonstrations;  they paid most of their own travel ex-
pense to meetings and training sessions; they sought credit at markets
so that 4-H members could be fed at camp; they used information from
farm  magazines  when extension  bulletins  arrived months after they
were  requested;  and they  made  it possible  for  many  black boys  and
girls  to attend  camp,  fairs,  and  short courses  by themselves  paying
the youngsters'  way.
Like  extension  agents  everywhere,  however,  black  farm  and home
demonstration  agents often  failed to accomplish  all  the goals and ob-
jectives  which they set, but they left lasting impressions  on the lives
of the people  whom they served. After  12 years of extension service, a
former  agent  is  recorded  as having proclaimed  that he achieved  his
greatest  satisfaction  when, after he had left the county and there was
no agent there, the clubs that he organized  continued to meet. "I  had
sharpened their skills in thinking systematically,"  he said. "I let them
know  that they could  make  a difference,  and they went  on working
without me." Teaching  black farmers to stand on their feet and to pull
themselves  up  by their  own boot  straps was  an essential  element of
extension  service.
A  former  member of a 4-H  club  who  learned  of the teachings  and
benefits of extension work,  said, "As a member  of 4-H, my knowledge
was  broadened.  I  acquired  self-confidence  and  learned  to  engage  in
healthful competition.  I learned about the Cooperative Extension Ser-
vice, the agents, and what they did. Consequently, all the time I was
in college my mind was set on becoming an extension agent." Having
viewed the more squalid conditions  of rural life, another former agent
recalled,  "When  I  came  to the county  there were  so  many  people  on
farms and maybe  17  or 18 to a household of three rooms.  I just knew
that something could be done about it. So I worked continuously until
they finally got an agent."
These reactions and other like them imply that black farm and home
extension  agents understood the difficulties inherent in extension  work.
6They relied on black community leaders,  notably ministers, teachers,
principals,  and local club leaders, to open doors for them so that they
might carry out the extension process. As arms of the extension agents,
these leaders reached out into the communities and won the confidence
of those who distrusted the farm and home demonstration  agents, and
who, on occasions, would  not open their doors to them.  These leaders
were  also valuable  in helping  hold the interest  of the people  over  a
long period  of time and they assisted the agents in formulating plans
of action to fit particular circumstances. Ministers would travel around
the county introducing the agent to farm families, announce meetings
during church service, and permit agents to use the church to conduct
meetings.
Black teachers  and principals  assisted by cooperating  with agents
to form 4-H clubs and making arrangements with the school board for
the use of school facilities.  With the cooperation  of the various school
faculties, farm and home demonstration agents identified children who
had no shoes or clothes changes and consequently they set up clothing
banks. In counties where children had no bath facilities, agents some-
times partitioned off a classroom, brought in tubs, and actually bathed
children.
Agents  also  depended  on  black  farmers'  unions  for  much  of their
success.  They donated  awards  for county  and state fair  competition,
held grading and packing schools  for farmers,  and sponsored farmers'
conferences.  In addition,  black physicians  gave free  physical  exami-
nations  to  4-H  members  who  were  going  to  regional  camps;  black
newspapers published extension announcements and news stories; and
black businesses  donated money toward  scholarships,  awards,  and gifts
for camps,  short courses,  and other achievement programs. Whites  in
the community  often befriended the extension  agent  and intervened
on his behalf.  Moreover,  sometimes  white-owned  businesses  such  as
banks, insurance companies, department stores, and churches donated
cash, scholarships, and farm supplies to help promote extension service
in the black community.
With the help of the state and national agencies,  leaders  from the
local  black and white communities,  and the people  whom  the black
farm and home  extension  agents  served,  black  Americans  were  able
to  make  significant  contributions  to  agricultural  extension  and  re-
search.  The  improved  methods  of farming and homemaking  fostered
by these  agents and institutions were  instrumental  in causing  many
farmers to advance  beyond basic necessities,  and to evolve  into pros-
perous  farmers  and homemakers.  All  of the contributions  made  by
black Americans  to agricultural  extension and research,  however,  were
not in the area of crop production,  soil conservation,  cooperative  buy-
ing and selling,  home  improvement  or  in the commercial  use  of the
peanut or sweet potato. Extension agents also helped to shape the lives
of blacks in other directions.  For instance, they persuaded thousands
7of black youths who never considered attending college to do  so. Black
girls  and  boys who participated  in vocational  agriculture,  4-H clubs,
homemakers  clubs,  and other organizations  went  on  to become  law-
yers,  doctors, nurses, teachers,  ministers, social workers,  government
employees,  extension agents,  and researchers.  Moreover,  through the
leadership  and experience  gained  as  active participants  in farm  and
home  clubs,  adults  gradually  became  more  adventurous,  self-confi-
dent, independent, and aggressive. They began to register, to vote, and
to petition  their  local  governments  for better roads,  streets,  sewage
systems,  street lights,  parks,  playgrounds,  community libraries,  and
community recreation centers.
Although they labored under severe obstacles, black farm and home
extension agents accomplished  extraordinary victories and left a last-
ing impression  on the lives of their clientele.  Theirs was not  a story
distinguished  by  immediate  and successive  achievements.  Rather their
efforts resulted in progress which came slowly and intermittently.  When
progress came, however, whether in form of a well, a tractor purchased
cooperatively,  a whitewashed fence, or an improved breed of livestock,
it illuminated  for thousands  of black Americans  a path for  a journey
into a better quality of living. Theirs was  a difficult task, but never-
theless they did achieve.
In closing,  I  should like  to leave the following  thoughts with you.
Black  Americans'  contributions  to  agricultural  extension  and  re-
search,  I  believe,  may  be  best  characterized  by  paraphrasing  S.  E.
Kiser's poem entitled,  "The Fighter." In their quest to carry improved
methods and techniques of farming and homemaking to blacks in rural
America,  black extension  agents and researchers:
"Had to fight a battle every day,  against discouragement  and fear;
Some  foe  stood  always  in their  way,  and the path ahead  was never
clear!
"They had to be forever  on guard, against the  doubts that skulked
along, but got ahead by fighting hard and kept their spirit strong.
"They  heard  the  croaking  of despair,  the dark  predictions  of the
weak; But they found themselves pursued by care, no matter what the
end they were seeking.
"Their victories were small and few, no matter how hard they strived;
Each day the battle  began anew, but fighting kept their hopes alive.
"Their  dreams  were  spoiled  by  circumstances,  their  plans  were
wrecked  by fate  or luck;  some hour,  they thought, would bring their
chance, but that great hour never struck. Their progress was slow and
8hard, they had to climb and crawl  and swim, fighting hard for every
stubborn yard, but they have kept in fighting trim.
"They had to fight their doubts away, and be on guard against their
fears; The feeble croakings of dismay were familiar through the years.
Their dearest plans kept going wrong,  and events combined to thwart
their will;  but fighting kept  their spirits strong,  and they  are unde-
feated still!"
9FEDERAL DEFICIT

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF BLACK AMERICANS TO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RESEARCH

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Research Papers in Economics