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EXTENSION WORK 
 
 TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL 
 INSTITUTE 
 
 TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE. ALABAMA 
 
 BY 
 
 CLEMENT RICHARDSON 
 
Printed hy Students 
 at Tuskegee Institutf 
 
BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
 
 Seth r^nv, Chainimii 
 
 Wright W. Camphell, Vice-Chairman 
 
 William G. Willcox 
 
 R. O. Simpson 
 
 V. II. Tnlane 
 
 Bt'lton Gilreath 
 
 Charles W. Hare 
 
 Booker T. Washington 
 
 AVarren liOgan 
 
 A. .1. Wilhorn 
 
 AVilliam .1. Schieft'elin 
 
 Cliarles E. Mason 
 
 Frank Triimhull 
 
 Tlieodorr- Roosevelt 
 
 Jnlins Rosemvahl 
 
 William AI. Scott 
 
 George AIcAneny 
 
 Edgar A. Bancroft 
 
 .Ue.xander Mann. I). 1) 
 
 -New York City, N. Y. 
 -Tnskegee, Alahama 
 
 - Xew York City, N. Y. 
 -Furman, Alaliama 
 
 - Alontgomery , Alabama 
 ..Birmingham, Alabama 
 -Tnskegee, Alahama 
 -Tnskegee Institute, Ala. 
 
 Tnskegee Institute, Ala. 
 . T'nskegee, Alaliama 
 -New York City. N. Y. 
 -Boston, Alassachnsetts 
 -New York Cit.v. N. Y. 
 -Oyster Bay, New I’ork 
 -Chicago, Illinois 
 -ITiiladelphia, I’enn. 
 ..New York City, N. Y. 
 ..Chicago. Illinois 
 -Boston. Massachusetts 
 
 The Tnskegee Normal and Industrial Institute is located in the 
 Black I’elt ot the ,'<onth. in the .State of Alai ama. near the town of 
 Tnskegee. .Mal ania. It was fonndeil .July 4. 1SN1. and has for its object 
 the training of young colored men and women for service for their 
 race. 
 
 Aside from the work done on the Institute grounds, it has been 
 suggested that it would he interesting and valuable for the fritmds of 
 the Institute and the jiuhlic to he given a clearin’ insight into the large 
 amount of work being done off the grounds through the Extension De- 
 partment of the Institute. 
 
 Further information if desired may he had from 
 
 BOOKER T. WASIIINGT()N, I’rinciiial, 
 
 Tnskegee Institute. Alabama. 
 
 FORM OF BEQUEST 
 
 I give and devise to the Trustees of the Tnskegee Normal and Indus- 
 trial Institute, Tnskegee Institute. Alabama, the sum of 
 
 dollars, payable, etc. 
 
SiiowiNo Teams of Faumers Who Attend the Anni al Tvskeree FonI' i:ri;n( e. 
 
TUSKEGEE EXTENSION WORK 
 
 I T oil the 1 ig plantations of the South the Negro farmer's hut 
 most commonly stamls alone. Day after clay the farmer aucl 
 his family look out over the vast landscapes, sometimes white 
 with cotton in its fruitage, sometimes barren, sometimes with- 
 ering and jiarching under a hot sun. The wife and children chop cotton 
 in the solitary fields, hurry home near noon time and cook a scant 
 meal of corn bread and fried meat, again hasten back to the hoe and 
 again back to the hut to a scant meal. The only sure break of the 
 monotony of a day. nay of a week, is a lone buzzard tilting lazily about 
 ocerhead. The rattle of a wagon along the highway, the puff of an 
 automobile, startles the laborers, who lean dreamily on their hoes until 
 the vehicle is out of sight and hearing. 
 
 At home when rest time conies the monotony is even more oppressive. 
 A bare yard without grass, tree or flower greets them on the outside. 
 Are they not all too busy to bother with trees and flowers? Well no, 
 not altogether. But they may not live in this cottage next year, accord- 
 ing to their reasoning, so what is the use? As for grass, why some still 
 beiieve it is poisonous, and of course wouldn't plant it. As for shade 
 when they sit out of doors, they pursue the shadow of the house. Besides 
 a bed. maybe a bureau, a few chairs, no pictures, no music, no books, 
 and you have a pretty fair sketch of the Negro plantation farmer. Their 
 life outside occupation is summed up by attending two church services 
 a month and by going to store or headciuarters when they need advance- 
 ment in food, money, or farm implements. 
 
 Is there any uoiider if vice sometimes creeps in. one might say, sails 
 ill on the wings of monotony? Is there any wonder that when Saturday 
 comes a Negro farmer in his busiest season will leave his cotton all 
 picked and piled in the field, lock up his house and take his family to 
 town to sjiend the day? Is there any wonder that he sometimes gets 
 down behind the bushes and gambles, or even that his mind drifts into 
 crimes of a baser sort. 
 
 Now this condition in all its nicer phases, of farming, of gardening, 
 poultry-raising, lawn-making, flower-raising, and shrub-growing, beauti- 
 fying and cheering the inside of the home, cooking and dressing better, 
 building better schools, extending school terms, teaching in a practical 
 and tangible, way. getting the colored people together and In sympathy 
 with one another — this condition is the foundation of the extension work 
 at Tiiskegee Institute. 
 
 The great privilege of teaching among colored people generally, and 
 among rural people in particular, is that you must work both forward 
 
6 
 
 tt’skePtEp: extension work. 
 
 and backward. Stolid though our rural people appear, there is never- 
 llieless a ver.v tender bond of sympathy between parent and child, the 
 parent often directing, even doininatiiif;. the child long after the latter 
 has grown up and married and has a family of his own. Thus to teach 
 the child profitably you must teach the parent also ; else what you give 
 the child hy day will be taken from him and thrown to the winds hy 
 night. It would be idle to teach the child ventilation, bathing, flower 
 and grass cultivation at school if you did not in some degree reach the 
 I)arents at home. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE SUMMER SCHOOL. 
 
 One of the agencies now at work, particularly on the educational 
 side, is the summer school. For the last five years an average of 3.10 
 teachers has enrolled and pursued courses looking to direct improvement 
 of I'ural school and community life. The summer just past registered 
 380 teachers from fourteen different States and from Porto Rico. For 
 the most part the teachers elect studies with an immediate purpose in 
 view. Thus the past summer witnessed more than a score of these 
 electing canning with the fi.ved plan of putting canning in the schools, 
 of organizing canning clulis among the children. Not a few were going 
 immediately back to can some of the products during the i)resent season. 
 Others elect basket-making ; hroom-making, shuck and pine needle work, 
 and still others, in large numbers, manual training. These courses have 
 already brought interest into the school room among the children and 
 have attracted the parents to the schoolhouse. One teacher writes that 
 the school and her communit.v was dead, but having taken i>ine needle 
 and shuck work, she went home and put the children to work with 
 their hands. There was no longer trouble with getting children to 
 school or with getting parents to attend meetings at the schoolhouse. 
 A teacher from IMississippi did not know how to form and handle 
 mothers’ clubs. She got this information at the summer school, went 
 home and started the clubs. Such “enthusiasm,” she wrote, she had 
 never seen. Another teacher from Mississippi learned to make brooms 
 in the summer school and stirred a good part of her State with broom- 
 making. Still another cleaned u]) her community by giving cooking 
 lessons in flu* various homes, there being no utensils in the school. Still 
 another who had the supervision of all the schools of a certain county, 
 stirred her whole county with the putting in of pine needle work, baskets 
 of weei)ing-willow. the making of wash-lioards, trash baskets and the 
 like. The white people of the county sent in the complaint to the 
 county su])erintendent that the colored children were being taught more 
 than the white. There being no white teacher who could give these 
 lessons at that time, this colored teacher offered to instruct any of 
 these white children who cared to come to her for the lessons. She 
 
tuskegep: extension work. 
 
 
 also told her children to pass on as much as they coidd to the white 
 children with whom they came in contact. 
 
 Rut the summer school is not one of hand training only. It gives 
 regular literary courses along with the industrial work. The same 
 purpose is. however, kept uppermost, to help the teacher help those at 
 home. Thus in a lesson in arithmetic, in geometry, in grammar, in 
 geography, the instructor in the summer school seeks not only to impart 
 subject matter hut to give live methods of teaching. To meastire the 
 class room floor, to compute the cost of a cotton crop, to make sen- 
 tences on peaches, to lay out a mimic continent and lay upon it all its 
 
 The Old Sc hool .vr Rio Ziox. Now Repl.cced by Folr-Room Ruildixg. 
 
 main products are some of the means whereby an instructor gives sub- 
 ject matter and methods of teaching at the same time. 
 
 That the summer school is accomplishing its pin’pose both at home 
 and abroad is best seen by the testimony of three experts in school 
 methods. Dr. .7. II. Dillard, Mr. .1. L. Sibley, and Mr. W. R. Riley. Mr. 
 Riley is Superintendent of Schools of Macon County, Alaliama. Refore 
 the Trustees of Tuskegee Institute in February, 1914, he said : 
 
 "This school is doing more than any other I know anything about 
 in bringing boys and girls in touch with real life. The teachers who 
 are being sent out from here are in touch with problems of life and 
 
8 
 
 TUSKEGKE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 I’niNcirAi. Washington and rAiciY Visiiing a Eakmku iiv tiiic ^^■AV. 
 
TI'SKE(tEE extension work. 
 
 9 
 
 practical education as is true of no other teachers that I know auy- 
 thiiiiT about. I am very enthusiastic about this subject of the kind of 
 uork this school is doiiie:." 
 
 INIr. Sibley, Supervisor of Neja'o Rural Schools of the State of Ala- 
 bama, before the same body said : 
 
 "Tuskegee is setting in motion a spirit of helpfulness and thorough- 
 going practical education whJcli is l:eing felt iu all the rural schools of 
 Alabama." 
 
 I»r. Dillard is President of the Anna T. .Jeanes Foundation and 
 Director of the .lohn E. .Slater Fund. Through the various teachers 
 under these funds he touches intimately every State in the South. 
 
 A Cl.nss Ix Cooking and IIome-P.i ilihno. Macon County, Ala. 
 
 Mr. Dillard's speech before the trustees in February. 1914, was, in 
 I)art : 
 
 •T have never seen anywhere better teaching than I have seen here 
 at Tuskegee Institute. In all the years I have been coming here. I 
 have never found even one teacher whom it did not give me pleasure to 
 watch iu action. 
 
 "I h.-ive gone into two rooms especially where not even a liook was 
 in evidence : the students and the teacher were talking about cogs, 
 wheels, etc., but no book was in evidence, and the teaching was all that 
 it should be. I never saw more genuine education going on anywhere 
 than I have seen here at Tuskegee. 
 
10 
 
 TT’SKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 “[ waut to say a word about the smiiiner school: It is influencing 
 
 teaching in all the colored schools of the South in a most heli)ful and 
 satisfactory way. I do not see how 'fuskegee could do more than it is 
 doing to help and influence education throughout the South." 
 
 THE EXTENSION I )EPART.MENT. 
 
 The agency which carries the bulk of responsibility in rural work is 
 known as the E.xtension 1 lepartment. ('linton .1. Calloway, the head 
 of this department, siiends much of his time keeping the rural people 
 astir with some community project umler way. something to keep the 
 l»oople alive, to give them oneness of interest and to bring local pride 
 
 A Class In Sewing, M.vdison. Such Cl.vsses Are I’ossirle Only 
 In the New Tvee of Rur.vl School. 
 
 Historically, this department dates back twenty years. It began in a 
 feeble way by sending out one man at spare times to create enthusiasm 
 for, to arouse the people to, improved methods of farming, better homes 
 and home surroundings. Then came a committee of three. Messrs. 
 C. W. Greene, J. II. Palmer, and George W. Carver, which injected 
 organization into the system. This committee, which has served sixteen 
 >ears continuously, encountered no end of agricultural prejudices. One 
 of their first efforts was directed towards deep plowing. At the time a 
 two-horse plow could nowhere be found. Getting the farm folk aside 
 
TUSKEGEE EXTENSION ^YORK. 
 
 11 
 
 Auxiliary Board, Little Zion, Montgomera' Counta', Ala. 
 
12 
 
 TI SKEdEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 one Saturday as they were inakiiijj: their weekly exodus to town, the 
 connnittee ur.ged the value of deep plowing. 
 
 ‘■We don't want deep jilowing,” said one farm preacher. “You're 
 fi.xin' way for us to have no soil. If we plow deep it will all wash 
 away and in a year or two we will have to clear new ground.” 
 
 Not long after this, one of the committee, having discovered a two- 
 horse plow on the brick yard, was putting his theory into practice. A 
 white planter driving along the road stopped, went over to him and 
 •said : “See here, it's none of my husiness of course, hut you're new 
 
 here and I don't want to see you fail. Rut if you plow your land deej) 
 like that you'll ruin it sure. I know. I’ve been here.” 
 
 However, a few colored men were prevailed upon to use deep plowing 
 on a small scale as an experiment. The result began to tell. One poor 
 farmer who could scarcely earn his bread, saw the results. He moved 
 into another community, and followed instructions. In a few years he 
 bought nOO acres of land ; gave each of his four sons 100 acres and kept 
 100 himself. Since then the four sons, being now content on the farm, 
 have added to their 100 acres, as has also the father. 
 
 During this period the committee use<l to go around to the various 
 churches to make their plea for better methods of farming. They called 
 a meeting on one occasion at “Sweet Gum,” a church some five miles 
 from the school. When the Institute workers, as the committee was 
 called, arrived, the pastor had sent the people off to a picnic. The 
 prtaicher feared that the new doctrine of farming might tamper with 
 the convrihiition box. 
 
 To the appeal for better fowl, cattle, and hogs, the farmers gave 
 answer that they needed no improved stock. The “razor hack” hog or 
 “liine rooster” took care of himself, so, also did the mongrel hen and 
 scrub cow. What difference did it make, they argued, when you ate an 
 e.gg, whether the egg came from a good breed or a scrub breed of fowl. 
 Here, agiiin, however, one man at least tried the scheme. He is now 
 one of the best stock raisers in the county. 
 
 These, however, were the rare individuals. The masses had still to 
 be reached. 
 
 To condiat pre.iudice of the masses, Tuskegee sets for its watchword, 
 “Educate, educate, everywhere educate.” 
 
 To do this the Rrincipal, believing as he does in the persuasiveness 
 of the concrete, evolved the scheme of sending the stock and iiroducts to 
 the people to let them see the difference. This movement was later 
 greatly accelerated by the Jesnp wagon. A man was put on a wagon, 
 which was drawn by a good well fed mule. A good hree<l of cow was 
 tied to the hack of the wagon. Several practical breeds of chickens, 
 some good ears of corn, bundles of oats, stalks of cotton, good seed, 
 garden products which ought to he growing at the time, and a good 
 
TUSKEGEE EXTENSION AYORK. 
 
 13 
 
 plow were loaded on to the wagon. This was the farmers' school, going 
 to the farmer who wouldn't or couldn't come to it. This was before 
 the day of the United States Demonstration Agent had dawned upon 
 the Negro farmer. The man driving the wagon halted by the field or 
 before an audience, delivered his message, pointed out the good points 
 of his cargo, and then asked somebody to allot him a piece of ground 
 to he cultivated. This granted he put his mule to the plow’, and broke 
 the ground deep, made his rows, planted his seeds and moved on to the 
 next locality. Keeping a memorandum he returned for cultivation, for 
 harvest, and above all, to enforce the lessons he had tried to teach bj’ 
 word of mouth. 
 
 To intensify certain piiases of the work a dairyman woiild now 
 go to the faiiners. then a trucker, then a poultry raiser. As poultry 
 raising centers about the home a woman was usually sent out to lecture 
 on this subject. Mrs. G. .7. Calloway, whose Karred Rocks can now' be 
 found all over the country, was usually sent. At different points Mr. 
 7. II. Washington gave lectures and demonstrations in canning, and 
 offered to give jiersonal instructions to any man free of charge. This 
 method of the concret(> was and is oidy one of tiie many which the 
 Extension Department is using to stir the farmers' ambition on the 
 one haiui and to bring content on the other. 
 
 Eurther than this during all these years lest there should still 
 le those who were not reached, the Agricultural Department, the Exten- 
 sion Deparlment .‘ind the Department of Agricultural Research have 
 been placing all kinds of pampldets and articles in the farmers’ hands. 
 Articles on what to plant in the garden each season of the year, improved 
 methods of poultry bree<ling. canning, and looking after stock have been 
 kept before the farmers through a little sheet from the Extension De- 
 partment known as The Messenger. 
 
 The Department of Agricultural Research, under Prof. Carver, has 
 to date published some twenty odd pamphlets on subjects helpful to the 
 farmer. It was that departmeut that worked out the first scheme of 
 school gardening in JIacon County. E.-iter a pamphlet appeared on that 
 subject. Tl'.en came pamidilets on ilacon County trees and shrubbery, 
 twenty-one ways to cook cow peas, i)reserving the wild plum crop, saving 
 the sweet potato, fighting various kinds of insects and pests, cotton 
 growing, improving rural schools, each to meet the particular need of 
 the farmer in Macon County and in the South generally. 
 
 TIIE SHORT COURSE. 
 
 There is in addition a regular cycle of agitations for the black 
 man on the soil. On .Tanuary first, the Agricultural Itepartment begins 
 the regular Farmers' Short Course. Many of the colore<l schools adjourn 
 for this ])eriod so that the teachers and pupils can attend. For two 
 
14 
 
 TrSKEOKE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 weeks, at the very hegimiing of the year, fathers, mothers, sons and 
 daughters, sit side hy side in the various cdass rooms, receiving instruc- 
 tions in gardening, general farming, stock raising, and canning. In 
 addition the women are given lessons in cooking, poultry raising, house- 
 keeping. and care of children. 
 
 A paragraph from the leaflet of the Agricultural Department an- 
 nouncing the short course for 1914 tells in its own breathless style of 
 the growth and opportunities of this course. 
 
 “A CREATION OF THE FARMER. BY THE FARMER. AND FOR 
 THE FARMER.” 
 
 “It meets the crying needs of thousands of our boys and girls, fathers 
 and mothers. 
 
 “IT S FREE TO ALL— NO EXAMINATION. NOR ENTRANCE FEE 
 IS REQUIRED. 
 
 “It started 7 years ago with 11 students ; the second year we had 17, 
 the third year we had 70, the fourth year we had 490, and last year we 
 had nearly 2,000. It is the only thing of its kind for the betterment of 
 the colored farmers. It lasts for only 12 days. It comes at a time when 
 you would be celebrating Christmas. In previous years, the farmers 
 have walked from 3 to 6 miles to attend ; many have come on horseback, 
 in wagons and in buggies. You who live so that you cannot come in 
 daily can secure board near the school for .$2. .50 per week. We expect 
 2,000 to 2,500 to enter this year.” 
 
 And then to stimulate close study the Department announces : 
 
 “PRIZES WILL BE GIVEN AS FOLLOWS: 
 
 “A prize or $.5.00 will be given to the person who makes the greatest 
 progress on all subjects taught : 
 
 “A prize of $2.00 will be given the person who is the best judse of 
 livestock. 
 
 “A prize of $1.00 will be given the person who shows the best knowl- 
 edge of the use and application of manures and fertilizers. 
 
 “A prize of $1.00 will be given to the person who can demonstrate the 
 best method of laying out an orchard and pruning trees. 
 
 “Corn-.Judging Contest: $1.00 will be given the man who can secure 
 
 the best of the different types of seed corn and select the best seed for 
 planting. 
 
 “A prize of $1.00 will be given the person who makes the best butter 
 and gives evidence of his knowledge of the same. 
 
 “A prize of $1.00 will be given the student who makes the greatest 
 progress in cooking. 
 
 “A jirize of $1.00 will be given the student who makes the greatest 
 progress in sewing. 
 
TUSKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 15 
 
 A L'l.\ss In I'ktkiun.vky Science Given to I’-uniEKs Attendino the Short Course. 
 
IG 
 
 Tl'SKKGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 "A prize of will be given the person who selects the best trio 
 
 of chickens.” 
 
 The method of instruction is liere worthy of attention. Nothing is 
 given in the alistract. Is the class told that onions, turnips, rutabagas, 
 cabbage and beets should be in full flourish in .lanuary? There are 
 the products in piles fresh from the garden or farm before them, and 
 out of the window yonder they are planted by the acre. A good breed 
 of cow is taken up and studied by the class as is also a horse, mule and 
 chicken, the teacher pointing out always the distinction between the 
 weak and the strong, the profitable and the non-profitable. 
 
 Stidexts at Oak Grove. Macox Gouxty. Workixc; School Cottox 
 I’atch. The I’roi eeds From This Gottox Were Fsed to Extexd 
 THE School Term. 
 
 THE ANNEAL FARMERS’ GONFERENGE. 
 
 Concrete illustration reaches its acme in the Farmers’ gathering 
 M’hich immediately follows the short course : that is. in the Annual 
 Farmers’ Gonference. another organization, now nearing its ’iOth year 
 of continuous existence, growth and service. To clinch the lessons of 
 good fanning, gardening, canning, preserving and stock raising, products 
 of these are all placed before the farmer audience which is usually 
 about ‘2.000 in number. Only the exhildt this time is made by various 
 farmers and not by the school. Then the man, the Moman or child M'ho 
 
TrSKE(JEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 17 
 
 h.is (lone the work comes to the platform and tells in his own way how 
 the thin;i was done. Then there comes buzzing in the farmers' head 
 voices more niimerors than the voices in I’andora's box, “Yon can do 
 that too, yon can do that.” 
 
 By m.i means, however, is the time devoted exclusively to Agriculture. 
 I'ro! ably a stronger wedge still is driven in seeking to give the farmer 
 wants. Witness tliese (luestions to the various farmers : 
 
 "Wiiat ki'.'.d of house do you live in?’’ 
 
 "Do you own that house?" 
 
 "M'l'.at ki: d of schoolhouse liave you?” 
 
 "Do \ou semi your children to school regularly?” 
 
 "How many months does your school run?’’ 
 
 "Do ,v(iu keep your teacher in tlie community?’’ 
 
 "What bind of church have you ” 
 
 "Where does your pastor live?” 
 
 ".Viv your church, school, and liome fences wliitewashed?” 
 
 Accordii g to each speaker’s answer, for understand these and many 
 other (p estioi s are put directly to some farmer, so is his admonition. 
 
 Every farmer now tided with emu'atio’’. witli larger wants, with 
 wider skill of his crafts, gallops away on his mule thoroughly resolved 
 that at tb.e next .Tanuary meeting he can tell of a bigger crop, aihiition 
 of a few acres, or first steps in purchasing, extension of .school term, 
 or some farm imiirovement. 
 
 In the meiuitime he is, of course, not let alone biy the school. The 
 old commit lee still makes monthly rounds of meetings. Tlie demonstra- 
 tion agent imps u|) :it any lime. A dtiy’s session is called at certain 
 intervals at tb.e school. All the time the committee, the iigent, the liead 
 of the b'xtension Deptirtmenf. is drumming away on the next big occa- 
 sion. 'I'bis is the Mticon County Eair. Once more the farmer is the 
 consfiicmms figure. He dots rot talk now. he merely exhibits. There 
 is a keen livalry between ' ommunities. Hogs, cows, horses, fowl, pre- 
 serves, (|Uilts, fitrm products of all kinds, a d arts and crafts of the 
 schools arc till eligible to cany off ril bo-s. This marks the rou 'd of fine 
 cycle, only the farnter n ust not stop, since f'e c'imate is so mild, he 
 must go liglit iiome .and p’ t in another cro"'. so as to have scr.ving and 
 harvesting going on all the year round. 
 
 BHTI.DING ItHRAE SCHCOL'a. 
 
 The I iggest task the Ertension Department '.ms ' ad innhu- way is the 
 building of decent :tnd piauti'al rural schools, 'n t'tis lies t’le solution 
 of much fi'.rm emigration. While the farnters would in i rore sfo k and 
 product^, t'.iere were still many, w'lo, not havi g e t ■''a'ion Eiemselves, 
 saw little use of an.v sebod at all; and the s'bwol ""a-ted, why any 
 length of session, any kind of teacher, and any kind o: 'guilding would 
 
18 
 
 TT’SKEGEK EXTENSION WORK 
 
 A (iKoi I’ OF Moi'iiKKS, Ilui Zion, Ai,.\. '1'iiksk Womkn K.\isi:n Et i.i.v Eai.f iuk I’l nds Nkkdki) I’ou tiik Ni w 
 
 Ruiu)ING and EgUll'MKNT. 
 
TT'SKE(iEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 19 
 
 do. And so ten years ago, the department with the Fanners' Confer- 
 ence, threw down the gauntlet to shabby school facilities, which includ- 
 ed a defiance of shabby homes, and a siiake of the fist at couimnnity 
 dissensions. It showed mere iiook-teaching the dooi'. laying down a 
 sciiednie for and demanding insi ruction in courses that gave useful train- 
 ing. as well as mere drilling in liooks. To carry out tlie plan called for 
 a cliange in rural scliool architecture. Tliere must be a room in which 
 to teach cooking, a dining room in whicli to teach table setting and a 
 room in wiiich to teach sewing. 
 
 r.o.\Ri) OF Tkfsteks, ^I.\i)isox. Ar,.\., a Negro ^'ILI.AGE Eight IMiles From 
 
 Montgomera'. 
 
 Now. jiiior to 190.1 nearly ever.v Negro school in .Macon Count.v was 
 eiliier :i log cabin or a one-room cottage, with one or two wooden win- 
 dows, one (ioor. a rickety woocien floor or a dirt tlo u', as chance liap- 
 pened to will it : a leaky roof, decaying logs and blocks of wood, 1 roken- 
 backed cl.aii's .and benches for seats. These are tin* things that made 
 up to tin' editice and surrounding for the children of the ex-slaves 
 to get an. education or a training for life. To man,v, tills was good 
 enougli. far better than they had had. certainly: luit to others, it was 
 wretchedness of tlie deepest dye. 
 
 .Vnd s(> arguments began to circulate. 'I'he people tliroughont the 
 County were jioor. Some few of tlieiu were .iust getting to tlieir feet 
 
20 
 
 TI SKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 ill the inatier of laud l.uying, hut the iuas.>;e.s were "ishare-croiipers'’ or 
 tenants. 
 
 In a little while a cry had come up from a community known as 
 ^Masiiiolia : “We want a new school I Help us I” 
 
 “Help ns” means funds to a certain extent, hut most of all it meant 
 somehody with initiative, suggestion, encouragement — and the welding 
 of factions. This last was especially troublesome. The rural colored 
 mail is the stanchest of partisans to his faith. A man of Baidist con- 
 victious is unwilling to build a schoolhouse anywhere save face to face 
 with the Rajitist Church ; so it is with a brother of the Methodist faith 
 or of any faith. The people at Magnolia had raised some money, but 
 how much they needed liefore they could break ground to build, how to 
 go about discovering all this, they were at a loss to determine. 
 
 MONEY IS RAISED. 
 
 Clinton .7. Calloway went down to see what could be done. About 
 half enough money had been raised to begin the work. An appeal to 
 the people for more brought the response that no more would be raised ; 
 the peojde as a mass had lost interest. Faction troubles, religious and 
 social, were boiling at a high heat. ilr. Calloway returned to Tuskegee, 
 reported to Dr. M’ashingtou and awaited instructions. It chanced that 
 a donor had given several hundred dollars to be used in helping the 
 Macon County rural schools. A part of thus sum was placed at the 
 disposal of the school's representative, with instructions to return to 
 ^lagnolia. 
 
 With this definite plan made out. the teacher returned. Said he to 
 an audience at ^lagnolia : 
 
 “A frieud who is interested in you. who wants to see you build a 
 schoolhoiise and educate your children, has sent you some money, under 
 certain conditions. That is. he will give you k.io for every S.10 you raise 
 until a sufficient sum is collected. M'ill you accept?” 
 
 HAILED WITH ENTHUSIA.^M. 
 
 A message from paradise could not have been hailed with gi’eater 
 enthusiasm. That some friend was interested in them, wanted to see 
 them get ahead and had sent them some money personally seemed almost 
 too gooil to he true. 
 
 They forgot their factional grievances. Their courage came back. 
 Barhecnes. peanut suppers, concerts of divers kinds were started to 
 raise funds. A central spot was bought for the location of the school, 
 a spot near the highway and as near the railroad as possil le. It in- 
 cluded not ouly ground for the school, but two acres for a school farm 
 anil garden. This was deeded to the trustees, for another limitation of 
 the gift was that the land had to he 1 ought, paid for and properly 
 
Tl SKECEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 21 
 
 deeded, the donor ,s;iviii,!i the nione.v toward the selinnl Imilding only. 
 Two or thiee times a week these peoide were together devising new 
 ways of raisiiig funds. Tliey got to know one anotlier nndenoinination- 
 all.v, or as men and women. 
 
 In two months' time tliey laid down .$100 to he covered by .$100 from 
 the donor, and work was begun. In si.x months from the time the rep- 
 lesei'tative went down from Tnskegee the school was finished and dedi- 
 cated admist shouts and tears of a ])('Oiile in mass, who had .insi finished 
 t'adr lir.^h lesson in the history of devising and constructing a school- 
 horse. 
 
 •V Ri H.u, School Co.mmk.vckmknt E.\:FaiCiSE Aimt.yixg Tt skeiike ^Iethous. 
 This Yoi .m; (Ihu. of 14 Is liisci rr Rkforf; ArnncxcF:. 
 
 Rnilding the sdiool at Magnolia is tyfiical of what iiappened in 
 rapid succession in tift.v-odd commnnities. This being the first of the 
 sdiools to T’ebuild it set the county atlame. That commnnit.v which did 
 not have or was not striving for a new school building, with rooms 
 for class'.'s, ritoms for cooking and handicrafts and a good school garden 
 or farm to eke out the school term from si.x to eight months was dubbed 
 "backward.” 
 
 It must be rememliered, however, that cash among the farmers, 
 especially among black farmers of the South, never runs at high tide. 
 If the [leojile own anything worth while it is usually in the form of 
 land, vehicles and stock. Moreover, the funds for such work at the 
 
Tl'SKEGEE EXTENSION WORK 
 
 Niocuo Eak.mkh's I’kocihkss r.\i)i:i{ tiik Instuik tion ok thk ( 'onkkkknc i'. and Shoki' Corusio. I.ix'irs II, 
 I’ou.AKK, Who Owns 'I'hksk ( 'otiaoks, Eiitsi' Ei\i;i> In ihk I.o<; ('aiiin I'o thk Ekit. 'I'h ionck IIk 
 ISIoVKi) Into THK Ekamk ('oriAOK on thk Kkhi'I'. 'I'o 'I'his IIk Addkd thk ('oitaok at thk Uack. 
 Eastkv IIio IH ikt and Movkd Ini'o thk IIohsk Shown IIkkow. IIk Owns Somk I(!0 Ackks ok Good 
 
 r.OTTOM I /AND. 
 
TUSKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 23 
 
 “Normal School,” as the farmers call Tuskegee, had run out. Hence the 
 people in the other communities were not so liappy in their progress as 
 was ^lagnolia. The way, tlierefore, was for many very dark. However, 
 help was forihcoming. Some time ago Mr. .Julius Kosenwald, head of 
 the firm of Sears, Roebuck & Company, of Chicago, provided $2,100 to 
 be used in aiding rural colored people to build better schoolhouses. This 
 gift, by the way, was signiticant of friendship and of a desire to stimu- 
 late self-help, since Mr. Rosenwald already had before the nation an 
 offer of $2."),000 to any Negi’o community, which could raise $7.o,000 
 for the purpose of building a Young Men's Christian Association. 
 
 That self-help design has been accomplished, can be seen fi’om the 
 fact that not all the funds were used. Itemized accounts of expendi- 
 tures were kept, so that at the end of two years the amount spent in 
 direct helping and the like, was $1,970,117. This so encouraged Mr. 
 Rosenwald that recently he has increased the amount and extended 
 both the time and the territory the fund will cover. His plan now is 
 that for the next live years dating from August 1, 1914. he will put at 
 the disiiosal of the Tuskegee Rural School Extension Department. 
 .$.30,000, Every community receiving this fund must first own its site, 
 which must be dee<led to the State. No school is to receive more than 
 $.3.")0, which sum must be equalled or exceeded by tbe community receiv- 
 ing the fund. With this aid and with the imi)otus if will give to self-heli) 
 in rural settlements, Mr. Rosenwald hoiies to see at least 100 new rural 
 schools liiought to completion during the allotted five years. 
 
 In all these cases the Extension Department pursut'd a definite busi- 
 ness plan. First of all the site for the school had to be bought, paid 
 for and deeded to the State through a board of trustees. As this board 
 was made up in most cases of men and women unskilled in affairs of 
 any kind, these people got their first lessons in civic education. They 
 learned how to meet and devise plans: they discovered that in spite of 
 one’s denominational proclivities “a man's a man for a’ that.” It gave 
 them a common interest and now and for aye, the little schoolhouse is 
 to them a sort of social center, and a scene of affection, because it was 
 here they fought out so many of tho.se little every-day problems, which 
 go to round out a complete life. 
 
 RAGE FEELING STIFLED. 
 
 -Vnother very interesting phase of this general school building was 
 that it soldered the white and colored people closer together and won 
 many a local white man to faith in Negro education. Seeing the enthu- 
 siasm of the black folk, many of the white people gave freely of their 
 money, others aided with hind er and hauling, others visited the enter- 
 tainments. paying their way and lending encouragement by their pres- 
 ence. 
 
Souio. when the schools were dedicaled. juit their thoufihts in writ- 
 ing. In :i letter directc'd to ilr. Calloway, the mayor of Xotasulga 
 writes : 
 
 "It (the new rural school) is a credit to the town, and I feel rnre 
 that it will he the inear.s of henefitlng not only your rac(> hut ours as 
 \\'ell. 1 am truly glad to see youi' ]ieo|ile taking so much interest in 
 l)rei>ari”g their young for the duties of citizenship." 
 
 C.VrCA.SIAXS ARE PLEASED. 
 
 A committee of white people at Loachaiioka. Alai ama. wrote: "We 
 take i)leasure in .saying in hehalf of the white citizenship of Loachapoka 
 that we commend the assistance yon Inive given your race in erecting 
 
 LiTTT.f: Texas Hefoke the People Kecame Akovsed as to the Oi t-Cast 
 State oe Their Schoolhoi se. A New IU ii.dixg Costing .$(>00 
 Has Ueplacei) 'I’his One. 
 
 a nice school Imilding at this place." while another committee of the 
 rural community of Auhuru, Alahama. says : 
 
 "We. the white people of this community, wish to say to the friend 
 that is helping the colored people through Booker T. Washington to 
 huild hotter schoolhouses and foster education, that we indorse and 
 appreciate the aid given the colored jieople of tliis community. And this 
 is tin' sentiment of all concerned." 
 
 The colored people themselves wei'e not hehind hand in expressing 
 their gratitude. In addition to local demonstrations of joy many sent 
 letters of thanks to Mr. Uosenwald as soon as they could find out his 
 
TUSKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 TKAINING 1m Run. ding SullOOLS 
 
TUSKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 2() 
 
 name and address. In their own way, and many of them are practically 
 nnletlc'cd. they set forth their feeling of gratitude to him. The Board 
 of Trustees of the Notasulga school wrote — 
 
 Notasulga, Ala.. July Hi. 1914. 
 
 ‘Air. Julius Rosenwald. 
 
 Homan Ave.. Ohicago. 111. 
 
 “Dear Sir: — We the T.ocal Trustee Board Composing The Colored 
 Puhlic School here at Notasulga. Wish to Exjiress our Sincere gratitiide 
 to you for the Kind favor Shown us While strugling to Erect our 
 School house. It is Indeed more blessed to give than to receive. We 
 Shall assure you in the gift of the $.300.d0 Three hundred dollars given 
 this I’eople here to assist in the Great Strugle will he api)reciated to 
 the highest Exstent Marked hy signes of Evedence that as only two 
 Rooms has been Built Plans are under way's to ad 2 other. 
 
 "Now in this ^lessage we voice the Centiment of The masses and 
 we hoite further that you will not think the Service rendered hy you 
 in connection with the building is not honored. We understand to 
 appreciate favors, is to take great care of the goods others has been 
 So Instrumentaly Concerned to help us obtain. yours 
 
 “K. I). Moss. Secretary. 
 
 “Jno. Johnson. Chairman 
 
 ‘•B. !Moore. Jackson hart. W. W. .Teams." 
 
 From Rainer, Ala., the trustees wrote: “It (the gift of .$.300.00) 
 
 has encouraged our peojile to the extent that we have been able to 
 come from a .j-months to a 7-months session.” 
 
 A letter from the ladies of Eoachaiioka declares that as a result 
 of the new school through ilr. Rosenwald's gift, “the colored people in a 
 great man.v places are waking up on the question of educating their 
 children.” 
 
 From Brownsville No. 2. the letter r(>ad. “About two years ago or 
 better our district school was divided, and we were left in the part thar 
 had no schoolhouse. We at once began trying to raise money to build a 
 schoolhouse, hut our raising money was might.v slow, so we got almost 
 to a point where we thought we would never he able to build the kind 
 of schooliu'use we wanted.’’ 
 
 So runs the tenor of man.v a letter of thanks from Madison, from 
 Big Zion and Little Zion in Jlontgomer.v County and from a large ninn- 
 her of sduiols in Lee and Macon Counties. 
 
 THE EDCCATIONAL TOCRS. 
 
 Broadest of all. perhaps, in its scope are the various tours which 
 Princijial Washington regularly makes both through counties and States. 
 The tours are called educational, which they are. hut they are social in 
 the dee] ter sense of the word and they are patriotic. On these trips 
 Princijial Washinsrton alwa.vs either gives inuietus to what has been 
 started through advice, or hy that bantering rebuke in which he is past 
 master, shames the peo])le into inqjrovement. He makes the Negro do 
 more, and he persuades the white man into helping and being friendly to 
 the Negro. In the end the State gets larger returns on its citizens and 
 smaller d(>mands on the police: this is why these tours are patriotic. 
 
TT’SKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 I’KiNc Wash iNciTON and I’akty En Roi tk to I )i:dk'ation of Rukai, Sciiooi- In Montoo.mkuy ('oi’niy. The 
 S( nooi., Which Is to the Right of the Chuuch, Is Rig Zion. 
 
28 
 
 TUSKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 NoUiiiig can l;e more touching than tlie efforts of manj* Negro 
 farmers on these trips. Has one a good breed of pigs, he manages to be 
 feeding them just at the moment Dr. Washington is passing bj*. Of 
 course Dr. Washington will stop. Then with what pride the old man, 
 frequently it is a ti’embliug gray haired veteran who got his inspiration 
 from the conference, will point out a big pumpkin, plump ears of corn, 
 a lusty calibage, all arranged near by for the dramatic moment. Then 
 if j'ou don’t look sharp he will have the party into the house, where his 
 wife will have jars of preserves, pickles, cans of vegetables, dried fruit, 
 syrup, along with quilts and other needle work all set out to view. 
 
 But alas for the man's pride ! Dr. Washington is sure to miss some- 
 thing. 
 
 “That’s flue, that’s flue,” he’ll say. "Got a good garden?” and out 
 before the whole party, for teachers and others are taken on these tours, 
 the farmer meekly confesses, “No Sir, we haven’t started one yit.” 
 
 Thus firide bows to admonition, and the next year there will be the 
 garden os well as the preserves. 
 
 On all these tours. State or county, the Principal’s text, no matter 
 what angle he may choose to view his subject from, can be boiled down 
 to “Make a little heaven' right here in the South.” What a broad and 
 flexible text ! It covers : ‘Inject business methods into your farming.” 
 “Grow things in your garden all the year round.” “Build and make 
 beautiful homes for your children so that they will not go into the 
 dives of the city.” “Keep your bodies and your surroundings clean.” 
 “Stay in one place.” “Get a good teacher and a good preacher.” “Build 
 a decent schoolhouse.” “Let your wife be your partner in the profit in 
 all you do.” “Keep out of debt.” “Cultivate friendly relations with 
 your neighbors, both white and black.” These are just a few of the 
 score of texts growing out of the “Little Heaven on Earth.” 
 
 His knowledge of both races, enables him to lay his Anger on faults 
 and foibles with a precision that makes a hearer fairly jump with 
 surprise. His audience is invariably a mixed one. Each bears witness 
 to what is said to the other. 
 
 What these trips accomplish is best told, however, in letters and 
 accounts in various States. The Principal has toured some dozen South- 
 ern States in the interest of education and race good-will. These trips 
 invariably bring letters and testimonials like the following. Speaking 
 of the tours of Texas. ^Ir. R. S. Lovinggood, President of Samuel Hous- 
 ton College, Austin, writes : 
 
 “I have scarcely been able to transact business among the white 
 citizens of Austin for the reason that they stop me to discuss your 
 great speech. I wish I could quote the various expressions relative to 
 you and your speech. 
 
TT'SKEGEE EXTEXSIOX WORK. 
 
 29 
 
 Ol T OK TIIK Ol.l) iN'IO TIIK XEW, I’lM: (IltONE SfllOOE, LEE CoUNTV, iVl.A.. 
 
30 
 
 TrSKEGKE EXTENSION* WORK. 
 
 ‘•Your speech has ami will help us — all < 'asses here. It is already 
 bearing fruit. 1 feel good effect already. And I want here and now for 
 myself and those I am permitted to represent, to thank you most heartily 
 for your visit and trip. 
 
 “Wirh prayers and best wishes, 
 
 “In Ilis Name. 
 
 (Signed) R. S. LOVINGGOOD." 
 
 Of the service of the trip through Florida. Mr. S. II. Savage, of 
 Lakewood, writes ; 
 
 “We feel confident that your visit and address will do incalculable 
 good to our people and the community." 
 
 A letter from Mr. S. I). Stewart, of Ocala, voices a like opinion for 
 his section ; 
 
 "The friendly relation that has existed here between the races has 
 been more strongly cemented, and the determination to do more firmly 
 planted.” 
 
 The descriptions of the tour of Tennessee, as written by a special 
 correspondent of the New York Evening Post, are wholly typical of the 
 twelve States toured. Speaking of the stop at Greenville and Bristol, 
 the Post says : 
 
 “Booker T. Washington ended the first day of his ‘educational pil- 
 grimage’ with an address at Greenville last night. He spoke to more 
 than (i.OOO i)eople yesterday, about e<iually divided between Negroes and 
 whites, at three different places, stretched out over some hundred miles 
 in the eastern Tennessee mountains. 
 
 “.V remarkable degree of interest has been manifested in the meetings 
 of both races. On all sides the opinion was expressed that the progress 
 of the Tnskegee educator would be memorable as marking the beginning 
 of a new era in co-operative relations between the races in this part of 
 the South. 
 
 PLAIN SPEAKING APPLAi nED. 
 
 “Or. Washington spoke for more than an hour. He handletl without 
 gloves n atters that Northern peoi)le think must be sjiokeu of only with 
 the greatest caution south of the ^lason and Dixon's line. Some state- 
 ments at first seemed almost to take the breath away from his hearers, 
 but it was not long before they paid tribute to his sincerity and the 
 fearless iilain speaking by hearty applause. Speaking to both races he 
 told them they might just as well make up their minds to stay where 
 the.v were, and work out the problem. 
 
 “Turning to his own race he urged them to cultivate reliability. 
 ‘You have as a race the tendency to be constantly on the move. Get 
 over that tendency. Cultivate a reputation for reliability. Be depend- 
 able. I'ick out the place you want to live in and iiiake up your minds 
 to stay there and rear your families there. Buy homes and become fax- 
 l)ayers instead of rent-payers. Start a bank account. Support the insti- 
 
81 
 
 TI SKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 tutioiis <-'f your city. Make yourselves valued and respected members 
 of the community. MTiatever work or business you engage in put your 
 best efforts into it. Don’t be sarisfied with doing anything lialf-welL’ 
 "These were only a few of the counsels he gave them. The meeting 
 closed with the singing of plantation songs, in which the audience joined. 
 As they tiled ont of the hall, one heard only words of praise. If any- 
 thing the white men were more outspoken than the Negroes. 
 
 ‘Vo’ cayn't tell me,' drawled one tall and stately man who might 
 well have borne the title ’coloner if he didn’t actually — “yo’ cayn’t 
 
 lU'HAI. SCIIOOI. CoM.MKNC K.MKXT EXERCISES. Tills P>OV IVlIII.E StUIIYING 
 Ills Rooks I, earned the 1’rincii'Ees of Scientific Farmixg and 
 Many I’ses of Corn Shfcks. 
 
 tell me that man ain’t inspired. IVliy he’s inspired just as surely as 
 Moses uas sir; yes. sir. Moses.’ 
 
 ’Yo’ are right, sir.’ returned his companion. ‘God did cert’nly raise 
 him up to lead his people out of darkness.’ 
 
 T don’t belie\e you can calculate the amount of good this speech 
 will do.’ said Dr. S. K. Preston, himself an educator of note. Tie didn’t 
 utter a sentiment that every white man cannot indorse fully. Racial 
 conditions here in Bristol are unusually good anyway, but this meeting 
 cannot fail to better them. It will set both black and white to thinking, 
 and it will surely inspire both to ponder how they may live u]i to the 
 
32 
 
 TUSKEGEE EXTENSION WORK. 
 
 standarrt that Dr. Washington has set before them. He is a great man 
 and a true leader of men.’ 
 
 BENEFICIAL EFFECTS ON KNOXVILLE. 
 
 “Jolin M. Brooks, the mayor of Knoxville, ])resided, and introduced 
 Dr. Washington. The greatest interest was shown by the audience, 
 which was about evenly divided between the races. Many of the most 
 prominent white business men of the city were seated on the platform. 
 
 “A ju'esident of one of the largest banks voiced the sentiment of the 
 white population when he declared ; 
 
 “ ‘The so-called race i)roblem has never been a very serious one here 
 in Knoxville, where, we are proud to say, the Negro population has 
 always been honest and industrious. But Dr. Washington has helped 
 us, I am sure, to keep on in the way we have been going. I am sure that 
 if he carries the same message of hope and inpiratiou throughout Ten- 
 nessee, from Bristol to Memphis, that the time will come, and come soon, 
 when the relations of the races will be as favorable in every section as 
 they are here among us.” ’ 
 
 The work of individual graduates in spreading the “Tuskegee Spirit” 
 must be omitted as the account of the way they go into the “backwoods 
 settlements,” get the peoide together and “clean up” is a story in itself. 
 Sutfice it here to say that the Extension M’ork now comprehend- 
 ing every department of the Tuskegee Institute, and touching directly 
 every one of the 180 teachers, sets for its mission in the South, the dis- 
 pelling of idleness, the casting of beauty and cheer over the lonely life 
 and barren surroundings of the Negro farmer, by teaching him and 
 seeking to give him the comforts of home, the love of family, com- 
 munity fellowship with white and black; in a word, the fullness of 
 citizenship through the medium of the soil. 
 

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