| 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.