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.