The African American’s Struggles and Achievements in Agriculture University of Arkansas MLK Celebration January 19, 2007

1. The African American’s Struggles and Achievements in AgricultureUniversity of Arkansas MLK Celebration January 19, 2007 Presented by Dr. Handy Williamson

2. Introduction The Mayflower, Timbuktu, Nile and the Ice Age

3. Historical Trends • American Slavery Industry • Primarily for agricultural slave labor • Secondarily for domestic servants • Limited use in industry • Post Slavery 1890 Census • 60% of African Americans in US were farms workers • 65 % of African Americans in the south were farmers • but also were • Scientists • Inventors • Educators

4. Beginnings of World Agriculture Earliest known origin of Cereal Cultivation • Studies by Wendorf, B., Schild, R., and Close, E/1984, show African slaves brought a wealth of agricultural knowledge to America • Remnants of barley radiocarbon dated 17,00– 8,300 years ago • in the flood plains of the Nile, Africa ( pre Egyptian). • Agricultural tools dated 14,500 (+/- 490) also found nearby. • Findings: while Europe was in the Ice Age, African • people were raising crops of: • Wheat Capers • Chickpeas Lentils • Barley Dates

5. Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America by Lerone Bennett, Jr. “When the human drama opened, Africans were on the scene and acting.  For a long time, in fact, the only people on the scene were Africans.  For some 600,000 years Africa and Africans led the world.  Were these people who gave the world fire and tools and cultivated grain--were they Negroes?  The ancient bones are silent.  It is possible, indeed, probable that they were dark skinned.”

6. Agricultural Crops Africa & Africans Contributed Many Crops to the US

7. Crops of African Origin Cotton Guerre or Cluster bean Millet Peanut Gallia potatoes Lupine Soybean Cowpea or Black eyes pea Broad bean Sorghum Watermelon Lettuce Coffee Eggplant Cardoon Wheat Lima beans Radishes Artichoke Red beet Leek Asparagus Tomato Griolle Mushroom Apple Cantaloupe Cherry Apricot Date

8. Crops of African Origin • Presently grown and consumed world wide • Trans-Atlantic vs. Trans-Pacific dispersal of crops • Proponents on Trans-Atlantic dispersal include • Edgar Anderson • Murdock • Albert F Hill • Black indentured servants may have brought African crops • and agricultural practices to America

9. American Agriculture’s Black Mechanical Inventions and Inventors Over 400 inventions credited to Blacks in early years

10. Overview • African slaves brought knowledge of agricultural and practices with them to America • Patents could not be issued in a slave’s name • Credit for many inventions claimed by owners • Section in the Confederacy constitution addressing the • owners right to control his slave’s inventions. • Jo Anderson’s owner Cyrus McCormick is credited with • inventing the grain harvester. There are suspicions that • Anderson made substantial contributions and records do not • reflect the degree of his involvement.

11. Range of inventions • Horse shoes Dough kneader • Rotary engines Refrigerated boxcar • Mechanical lubrication devices Bottle caps and sealers • Biscuit cutter Cultivator • Cotton planter Potato digger • Corn husker Automatic gear shift • Riding saddles Cotton gin • Lawn sprinkler system Lemon squeezers

12. Education and Science The pathway to freedom and equality

13. Benjamin Banneker 1731 – 1805 Farmer, inventor, mathematician almanac maker Born in Ellicott, Maryland of free mother and slave father Considered free Attended private integrated school through 8th grade • Predicted the solar eclipse of 1789 • Published the first scientific book by an African American – an almanac • Tide tables • Data on future eclipses • Useful medicinal products and formulas • Helped lay out the blueprint for Washington DC

14. Henry Blair 1804 – 1860 Inventor Resident of Maryland Evidently a free man Was granted first patent to a black man (he was identified as a “colored” man in patent registry • Granted a patent for the corn planter in 1834 • Granted a patent for the cotton planted in 1836

15. Frederick McKinley Jones1731 – 1805 Technician Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1892 Orphaned at age 9 Quit school after 6th grade to go to work • Invented first application of mechanical refrigeration to rail cars and • trucks • 61 Patents. • Other inventions include: • Air conditioning for military field units • Refrigeration for military kitchens • A prototype x-ray machine

16. Norbert Rillieux 1806 – 1894 Inventor Born in Louisiana to French father and African American mother Educated in Catholic schools in Louisiana Studied applied mechanics and taught at L’Ecole Centrale in Paris • Invented vacuum evaporating pan which reduced labor and improved products in the sugar refining industry in 1845

17. Granville T. Woods 1856 – 1910 Inventor Born Columbus Ohio Former education ended at age 10 Self taught in mechanics, blacksmith and electronics • Person credited with modernizing the electric railway car • Developed Induction telegraph system (Railroad telegraph) • Many inventions for conducting electricity • 50 Patents

18. Circumstances in Africa prior to 1861 • Brilliant cultural and educational heritage in West Africa • Timbuktu and Gao were prominent cultural center of the • Moslem world • Emperor Askia Mohammed Toure of Songhay established a • school system from 1493 to 1512 • University of Sankore at Timbuktu considered a major • institution of higher learning

19. Circumstances in the United States prior to 1861 • Education for African Americans was generally prohibited • Benevolent owners and churches promoted education to • increase labor efficiency and enhance the spread of Christianity • Quakers advocated education of African Americans in religion and • occupational training • Whites feared slaves would read abolitionist materials. • Attempts of integration of some private schools was met with • mob resistance

20. The Emergence of Black Education • Initial emphasis was placed on practical skills, farm related • training and separation of the cases • Vocation schools and normal agricultural (A&M) colleges served • as training ground for prominent African American educators, • scientists and leaders. • Contributions of the earlier African American educators, scientists and leaders focused on the US agriculture sector. • W.E.B. Dubois advocated for higher order education and refinement for the “talented tenth.”

21. Agricultural College / Historically Black Land Grant University • 16 colleges were founded in the 19th century as land grant • colleges or later given this status as legislated by the federal • government. Today there are 17 such institutions. • These institutions have been the primary training grounds for • African Americans who have pursued careers in agricultural • industry, the professions and government. • Institutions focus on • Teaching Extension • Agricultural research International development • Trend setters in providing assistance to low income farmers and • disadvantaged in rural society

22. Educators and Leaders

23. Booker T. Washington (1856 – 1915) Educator, Leader Born a slave in Hales Ford, Virginia Worked in the coal mines as a young man Attended Hampton Institute, an industrial agricultural school for African Americans. from 1872-1875 • Founding president of Tuskegee University • Presidential advisor on racial problems to Theodore Roosevelt and • William H Taft and influenced federal appointments • Author of Up from Slavery, a book on his emergence from poverty to • national prominence

24. Thomas Monroe Campbell (1883 – 1956) Educator, Leader Born on a farm near Bowman, Georgia Graduate of Tuskegee Institute in 1906 • Operated Tuskegee’s “School on Wheels” a demonstration wagon carrying improved farming implements to Negro farmers who were unable to attend school. This operation became known as the “Movable School”. • Appointed the first Negro Farm Demonstration Agent in the US in 1906. • First Negro Field Agent of the US Department of Agriculture with a territory of the seven lower southern states. • Author of, The Movable School Goes to the Negro Farm.

25. Richard David Morrison (1910 – 2003) Educator, Born on a farm and reared in Mississippi Graduate of Tuskegee Institute • Operated Tuskegee’s “School on Wheels” a demonstration wagon carrying improved farming implements to Negro farmers who were unable to attend school. • Was a teacher of Vocational Agriculture during early career. • Appointed as a Negro Farm Demonstration Agent. • Was President of Alabama A & M University and a leader of the Facilities funding initiative. • Is highly respected for his leadership within the Land-Grant System.

26. Clifton R Wharton, Jr. Leader & son of a Diplomat BS in history from Harvard University MA in international affairs Johns Hopkins University MS and PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago • Chairman and Executive Officer of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and College Retirement Equities Fund, the national’s largest pension fund. • Outstanding career as President of Michigan State U & the SUNY System and as Deputy U.S. Secretary of State (under Warren Christopher). • A recognized authority on economic development in Southeast Asia and Latin America • First Chairman of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (AID), US Department of State.

27. Allie C. Felder, Jr. Leader, Educator BS in agriculture from Hampton University MSC in agricultural economics and rural sociology from the University of Illinois PhD in agricultural economics and rural sociology from Ohio State University • Sr Vice Pres Emeritus of the National Cooperative Business Association • Contributed to the human and economic development of people in India and the US • Director of the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC) • Served as a member of the US delegation to the Foreign Agricultural Organization Conf, Rome, Italy 1977

28. Thomas T Williams Educator, Leader, Economist BS in agricultural economics from No. Carolina A&T State MSA in economics from the University of Illinois PhD in agricultural economics from the Ohio State Univ Post Graduate work at Case Institute of Technology • Southeast Regional Director of the US Department of Health and Human Services • Credited with establishing the Department of Ag Econ at Southern University of Louisiana where he served for 25 years • Also adjunct professor at Cornell and Louisiana State University • Served as Chairman of the Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, Tuskegee University • Editor of Unique Resources of the 1890 Land-Grant Institutions.

29. Scientists

30. Pyramid Building and the Ancient Egyptian Civilization • Development of pyramids and other great monuments is traced from the mud brick beginning of the great pyramids and temples in Africa. • Beatrice Lumpkin in her writings document the plans, level of mathematics and technology required for pyramid building. Possible methods of construction are considered. • In keeping with the tradition of African scientists, a number of African American scientists have made valuable contributions to US agriculture.

31. George Washington Carver 1864 – 1943Scientist/Chemist Born a slave in Diamond Grove, Missouri He and his mother abducted by slave raiders. Mother was sold but he was ransomed by his master in exchange for a race horse Self supporting while obtaining a high school education Received Bachelor and Masters from Iowa State University • First African American on faculty at Iowa State University • Joined Book T Washington on faculty at Tuskegee University • Developed peanut butter and 82 other products • Research on the peanut and the soybean revolutionized the economy of the South by eliminating the dependence on cotton. • Developed a crop rotation system that revolutionized southern farming • Did not patent his discoveries. “God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else.”

32. Benjamin Banneker 1731 – 1805 Farmer, inventor, mathematician almanac maker Born in Ellicott, Maryland of free mother and slave father Considered free Attended private integrated school through 8th grade • Predicted the solar eclipse of 1789 • Published the first scientific book by an African American – an almanac • Tide tables • Data on future eclipses • Useful medicinal products and formulas • Helped lay out the blueprint for Washington DC

33. Frederick McKinley Jones1731 – 1805 Technician Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1892 Orphaned at age 9 Quit school after 6th grade to go to work • Invented first application of mechanical refrigeration to rail cars and • trucks • 61 Patents. • Other inventions include: • Air conditioning for military field units • Refrigeration for military kitchens • A prototype x-ray machine

34. Percy Julian 1899 - 1975 Scientist, Chemist Born in Birmingham, Alabama Bachelors degree from DePauw University Masters degree from Harvard University PhD in Vienna Austria • Director of research and manager of fine chemicals at Glidden Company • Extracted cortisone a sterol derivative from soybeans to more economically treat arthritis • Discovered a way to mass produce the drug physostigmine, used to treat glaucoma • Perfected the mass production of sex hormones which led the way to birth control pills

35. Program Concepts and Thrusts

36. Program Concepts and Thrusts • The beginning of Negro Farm and Home Demonstrations • Farmers’ Institutes • Community and County Fairs • Black fairs merging with White fairs • International Extension Program • Consulting in Togo, West Africa • Today: Teaching, Research, Extension and Econ Devel.

37. Dr. Handy Williamson, Jr., Ph.D. Vice Provost International Programs and Strategic Initiatives Professor of Agricultural Economics University of Missouri-Columbia E-mail: williamsonha@missouri.edu Website: http://bengal.missouri.edu/~woc33/drwilliamson/index.html