The news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
OCTOBER 26, 1927
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. xm. No. 50
Edilori.l Board. E. C. Brannon.
S. H. Hobbs. Jr., P. W. Wager, L. R. Wilson. E. W. Knight. D. D. Cirroll. H. W. Odum.
Entered as aecond-claaa matter November 14. 1914. at the Postofiice at Chapel Hill, N. C.. under the act of August 24. 1912.
progress among negroes
j^egro extension work
According to a recent bulletin of the
United States Department of Agricul
ture entitled A Decade of Negro Ex
tension Work, liome ownership is the
largest factor in the solution of the so-
called Negro / Froblem. Cooperative
extension work, especially since the
comprehensive organization of negro
extension agents, ha's 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 demon
strators. •
Farmers’ cooperative demonstration
work was begun in 1903. At first, all
forage crops, with tobacco, sweet po
tatoes, Irish potatoes, melons, berries,
and truck crops. Unusual significance
may be attached to the livestock demon
strations of negro farmers. The large
number of cows, hogs, and chickens
owned by them indicates increased land
ownership by negroes. Likewise, it
means progress when negro boys and
girls cared for 102,070 high-class farm
animal^ in their club enterprises in
1924.
The progress and the benefits of
home demonstration work among negroes
have been no less significant than those
of farm demonstration work. Large
numbers of negro women and girls have
been demonstrators in gardening,' food
i preparation and preservation, home
demonstration agents were white men ! furnishing and
and women, but in 1906 farm and home j projects,
demonstration work for negroes was | ^j^oget^er, the extension work among
begun. The first negro farm demonstraj^^^^^^^ witnessed a
AT HIS BEST
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. There is something
in the atmosphere of the farm that de
velops and strengthens the negro’s
natural common sensd. 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 develop
ment of plants and animals, the
streams, the birds and" the changes
of the seasons. He h^ a chance of
gettipg at first-hand the kind of
knowledge that is'valuable to him.
— Booker T. Washington.
tors were appoinled that year and | development. Its influence l
first negro home demonstration "geht i bound to be tremendous. There is no
in 191ii.. The work among the i ggij gj where greater good
ers of this section do not emulate
their example and grow the things
needed at home.
In addition to these staple crops, the
Thompsons grow quite a quantity of
hogs, some chickqns, some truck and
other products that contribute to swell
ing the cofYers of the family. —Manu
facturers Record.
NEGRO FARM TENANCY
The tabje which appears in this issue
gives the
farmers i
ern states in 1910 and in 1926. It also
North Carolina. There appears also bi
have been a migration f^rom the Gulf
states westward into the newer cotton
areas in Oklahoma and Texas.
C&uses and Effects
The causes of the shifting of negro
population are easier to explain than
the consequences. The boll weevil has
been an expulsive force; the negro
farmers have tried to advance ahead
of it. Again the negroes generally
find it to their economic advantage to
migrate from areas with a high negro
number of negro tenant j-atio to areas with lower negro ratios—
each of fourteen South- other words to spread out. Possibly
the migration has been prompted in
indicates in each ease the ratio of prospect of better schools,
tenants to the total number of negro
farmers. The table was limited to
those states in which there is a
facilities, better
beauty or our national
strength, we know of none comparable
with tfie painting of this picture. We ^ downward^'
lift our hand in salute to t.ne vi.sion and
tlie courage of the man who first con
ceived the map of these great States
as his canvas, and then dared to
sweep- upon it such a glorious com-
owes mdeb of its success to the high | by earnest, devot-
quality of negro leadership developed ; working along right lines.
at the Hampton and 'luskegee Insti* j
tutes. In fact, the influence of these two I I
major institutions has affected-all the] HOSENWALB SCHOOLS i
schools and colleges where negro agents | xhe most beautiful pictufe in America j this.’’-Literary Digest,
have bean educated. Every southern |jg that whi^ the Julius Rosenwald |^
state now has a group of efficient negro i fund is painting across the map of the i
agents, whose numbers are increasing. ' Southern state?, says The Christian
To be specific, the number of negro' (Century (Nondenominational) enthusi- j ^
agents in the fourteen states mentioned | astically. It is only fifteen years since
better institutional
race relations.
An increase of 15,189 nejiro tenant
relatively large number of negro farmers in North (Jarolina in fifteen
farmers. The states are ranked on years can hardly be an .unmitigated
the basis of negro tenancy ratios. In blessing. The addition of these land-
Virginia only 38.8 percent of the negro jggg hordes from region.^ further south
farmers are, tenants; in Mississippi introduces serious problems—both eco-
87.1 percent are tenants. Ihe other ; nomic afld sociiRl. The presence of new
Southern states lie between these two | hinders the economic
extremes. advance of our native farm tenants,
More significant, perhaps, than - the | and makes a reduction in farm tenancy
nresent tenancy ratio i.s the trend. Is‘more difficult. The influx of thousands
Our com-j of homeless negroes, unacquainted and
putations reveal tiiat in ten stales the i unadjusted, ’ makes for social dis-
ratios were higher in 1926 than in 191U, turbances. There is an increase in
and in four states the opposite was ! crime, race friction, and social malad-
' true. Incidentally, North Carolina’s: ^'ustments of every sort.— Paul W.
; negro tenancy ratio increased from ; Wager. ,
'67.7 CO 72.7, not a very encouraging;
A NEOHO FARMER
commentary. Only in Texas was the
increase greater. Florida witnessed
the greatest reduction, its tenancy
in this week’s table has increased from j
in 1916 to 293 in 1924 The COSt of i
this modest, retiring Jewish mer
chant” established the fund for the en-
Thompson came to Augusta, , .n n ^ ao o rp ,-
-_ f T- • u ■ f i ratio fa ling from 49.7 to 42.8, Taking
some 3o years ago from Union Point' , . . .
and started work as a drayman on Cot
ton Row. Long years of service have
the- negro extension work in these ! eouragement of adequate rfucation for igg^pacitated him for further work, but
negro children, especially in the South, Charles carries on, and Harold,
but its results are already writ large. ig the farmer of the
The Roserrwald fund provides part of augmented by his mother, Ann
„ . , the money, wherever a southern state, -j-hompson, who started the family out
Negroes are especially responsive to jg t^er with a local negro community, | . .yriggUure
remainder necessary tor
states has increased from -$31,689
'1916 to $416,248 in 1924.
Negroes Responsive
the demonstration method, because of
their faith, confidence, and optimism.
Demonstrations have reached the most
ignorant and thtr arose needy better
than any form of academic instruction,
because demonstrators must be doers be
fore they become teachers. The demon
stration method has proved to be not only
the best for the ignorant, but also for
the intelligent. The negro .farmers
want usable knowledge about specific
things. Many negro agents seem to
have the ability to encourage their
demonstrators and magnify the influence
of their work. Negroes are very sus
ceptible 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 neigh
bors, and especially from the leading
white citizens. Whenever a county
paper calls attention to the outstanding
results obtained by a negro farmer, he
immediately measured up to the added
responsibility and goes forward on the
path of improvement. Whenever there
is a considerable number of demonstra
tors of that kind, it is easy 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 ex
tension force is to multiply the numbers
of good demonstrators.
Results Encouraging
According to the bulletin on which
these paragraphs are based, there were
in 1924, 3,669 negro farmers who under
took demonstrations with cotton and
3,072 carried the work to completion
and submitted reports. These demon
strations represented a total of 23,043
acres. In addition, 2,630 junior club
members planted an acre or more of
cotton and 1,734 of them completed the
work and submitted reports. Many of
these boys cleared more than $100 each
on their acres and some more than $200.
This is not bad for boys who attend
•school regularly.
Corn has always been a favorite crop
^or demonstrations by both adults and
juniors in the South, because it is used
so much for food and feed and because
it responds so well to special attention.
Demonstrations in corn in 1924 covered
26,442 acres and involved 12,336 demon
strators. Each demonstration was prob
ably observed by several neighboring
families, hence the numbersiof people
influenced was large.
Thousands of demonstrations were
provides the
the building of schools of modern type,
in which an adequate education may be
given. The negro community involved
must give a sum equal to or greater
than that given by the fund. One or
more rooms, we read further, must
be dedicated to industrial education in
every Rosen-wald school, and there must
be at least two acres of ground v for
agricultural instruction. When com
pleted, the schools ' become public-
school property. Statistics are usually
tiresome things, says The Christian
Century;
But to-those who look with fore
boding on the race question in the
United States some statistics as to the
present status of education for negroes
in the South will prove worth noting.
There were ^6,610 schoolhouaes' of all
kinds in the fourteen Southern states
in 1924, when the federal Bureau of
Education compiled its latest figures.
On July la year ago there were 24,-
079 schools for negroes. The simple,
Harold began his work as a mere
youth and rented land a short time un
til he bargained to buy a farm, the
Taylor Hill place down the river, con
sisting of some SOO acres of land, and
when this was settled for he bought,
with the assistance of other members
of the family, the Lombard and Holmes
tracts, comprising another 400 acres,
and has under lease at present 160 acres
more of land, or a total of about 1600
acres.
Last year upward of 10,000 bushels of
corn was grown, more than 16,000 bales
of hay, more than 30 bales of cotton,
and oats galore. He has sold thousands
of bushels of oats, Fulgbum seed oats,
one Aufeustan buying 2000 bushels and
M. M. Daniels of Millen buying 2000
bushels. On the farm today are more
than 300 acres of the finest oats imagin
able, oats that make 60 or 76 bushels
per acre.
The farm is equipped with tractors,
power pre'sses and other modern sup-
tbe entire fourteen states the negro
tenancy ratio increased from 76.0 in 1910
to 76.6 in 1925. While any increase in
tenancy is to be deplored it is worthy
of notice that the increase among
negroes was less than among whites in
the same area. ,
A Numerical Decrease
A RURAL PROBLEM
Education of negroes in the United
States is mainly a rural problem. A
recent study by the U. S. Bureau of
Education indicates that 93.4 percent of
the negro schools in fourteen southern
states are in rural communities. In
other words, there are 22,494 rural
schools and 1,686 urban schools. The
average length of the school term in
the rural schools was in 1926-26 about
six months. The range was from 8.7
Numerically seven states showed an | months in Maryland to 4.7 months in
increase in negro tenancy in the fif- I Alabama. Of the 801 negro high schools
teen-yesr period and seven a decrease.'m the fourteen states, 200 are four-
Taking the entire group of states the i Y^ar accredited high schools. The total
number of negro farm tenants de-1 enrollment in the high schools m 1925-
creased from 667,913 in 1910 to 636,6)2 26 was 68,606 and the number of four-
in 1925. In the same period the num-1 Year graduates was 6,436.
ber of negro farm owners decreased in '
one-teacher type of school made I plies that make farming in the Savan-
up 63.8 percent of these negro schools; | nah River 'Valley a success. The story
the two-teacher school, 18.8 percent; j is one remarkable in that it shows what
the three-teacher school, 7.1 percent, : can Be done in farming around Augusta,
and the four-teacher and larger, 10.3 ; and there is no question but that some ;
percent of all rural negro schools in I day every acre of fertile valley land of
the South. The influence of the Rosen-, this seotion will be utilized for agncul-
wald fund is even more clear when it is | tural purposes, and it is certain that
said that only 6.0 percent of the one-1 two blades of grass, or even five or six,
teacher schools are Rosenwald schools, i will be made to grow where only one
while 29.3 percent of the two-teacher, has grown heretofore.
31.2 percent of the three-teacher, and l The lesson of these colored farmers
these states from 210,116 to 193,638.
In other words, there was an exodus
of negro farmers from the South rather
than any appreciable passing from
tenancy into ownership.
A study of the table reveals that the
number of negro tenant farmers in
creased slightly in Virginia, Maryland,
Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, and
increased phenomenally in Texas and
North Carolina. On the other hand,
there were slight decreases in Florida,
Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina
and Mississippi, and phenomenal de
creases in Alabama and Georgia. It
is evident that there has been a steady
migration of negroes from the South
Atlantic states northward, with a con
siderable number of them stopping.in
IN VARIED OCCUPATIONS
An increasing number of colored
business women find employment as
insurance agents and real estate agents
and nearly 200 haye qualified as under
takers. Fully 2,5Q0 are clerks and
saleswomen in stores, and others are
making a livelihood and gaining busi
ness experience as commercial travel
ers, decorators, drapers, and window
dressers, as demonstrators and floor
walkers in stores, and as employment
office keepers. We have several opti
cians and nearly 400 female hucksters
and peddlers, a number of junk dealers,
and a dozen or more dealers in rags.
All of which indicates a decided im
provement in the economic status of
our race.—Columbian Press Bureau,
quoted in The Southern Workman.
31.7 percent of the four-teacher and
larger schpols for negroes have been
helped by this fund. These Rosen
wald schools provide 27.4 percent of
the pupil capacity for the total rural
enrolment of negro children.”
Negro High Schools
There are now 209 four-year ac
credited negro high schools, North
Carolina leading with 49 and Texas
coming second with 26. There are, in
addition, 692 non-accredited schools do
ing from two to four years of high-
school work. The total enrolment m
these schools, when these figures were
gathered a year ago, was 68,606, and
6,436 young negroes had graduated
that year at the completion of a full
four-year course. It will be seen that |
Itetourenrolmenrrstayin'^ m high j Anybody who has some 8000
school long enough to graduate a fine
showing.
is one that ought to be iifspirational
throughout; this entire section, and a
visit to the. plaice, six or seven miles
down the Savannah River road, will
show the public what is being done
there and what can be done elsewhere
around Augusta.
With the construction of immens
dams above Augusta tor water-power
purposes, the flood control of the
Savannah River would be well-nigh per
fect. With this done, a vast acreage
could be opened up with a reasonable
degree of safety from any overflow and
farming on an extensive scale could be
carried on from every viewpoint around
Augusta. It is worth considering and
means great things for those w
intd the proposition and pursue the
NEGRO TENANT FARMERS IN THE SOUTH
Number and Ratio, 1910 and 1925
The following table shows the number of negro tenant farmers in each o£
the Southern states in 1910 and in 192,6. It also indicates in'each ease what
percent of the total number of negro farmers the tenants represent. The table is
based on United States Census statistics.
It will be noticed that the absolute number of negro tenant farmers in
creased in seven states and decreased in seven states. The tenancy ratios
ncreased in ten states and decreased in four. Mississippi has the largest
number of negro tenants, as well as the highest tenancy ratio; nevertheless
the number has decreased by nearly twenty thousand since 1916. North Carolina
witnessed the greatest increase numerically, and Texas the greatest relative
increase. There appears to be a gradual movement of negro farmers north-
ward and westward.
Paul W. Wager
Department of Rural Social-Economics, University of North Carolina
1926
Rank State
Negro ten
ant farmers
Percent
of all
negro
farmers
Negro ten
ant farmers
of fine corn and 1U,UUU bales ot cnoici
native hay to sell at this season hai
..D . ™ hack to the picture. S little to worry about in making a sue-
s.™
• days. Thompson family.
1
Virginia
.... 16,691
32.6.
2
Maryland y
2,334
36.6.
3
Florida
7,311 •-
49.7.
4
Kentucky
6,763
49.1
5
Oklahoma
8,370
63.4.
j 6
North Carolina ....
43,676
67.7.
^ 7
Tennessee
27,661
72.0.
: 8
Texas
. ,.48,664
69.6.
Percent
of all
negro
farmers
.33.8
.37.3
.42.8
,.53.6
likewise made with leguminous and | among all the
colored, is doing
ippemng in “‘r-- " g^'to demonstrate the possibilities
Some things big with portent for the muen^^^^ ^
future are
b”eing undertaken. But in farming, and it is a 8^^“^ Pi*Y
our thousands of beta white and black farm-
contributions to
South Carolina 76,285..
Alabama 93,288..
Arkansas 48,872..
Louisiana 44,062..
Georgia m733..
14 Mississippi 139,433..
6,148..
• 6,747...
11,348 56.6
58,865 72.T
26,412 73.3
61.840 76.7
72,179 79.7
84.6..-. 70,539 82.7
76.9 52,181 73.8
80.4 49,913 83.9
87.1 72,206 86.9
84.8 130,796 87.1