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.
Fig. 7.—This negro club boy is learning seed-corn selection from his county agricultural agent.
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.