Boys' and Girls' Clubs
This photograph shows the various extensions of early corn clubs.
The popularity of boys’ and girls’ clubs peaked in North Carolina between 1910 and 1920. Prior to 1909, corn clubs developed throughout the United States as local programs, and the first attempts at boys’ clubs were often unorganized. Aware of this, Seaman A. Knapp, a founder of demonstration work in the United States adopted the idea for state organized agricultural extension programs. These programs eventually became part of the 4-H organization. The 4-H clubs combined and expanded the efforts of the corn club and tomato clubs. In 1926, the 4-H organization underwent efforts to create a joint boys’ and girls’ organization, but separate 4-H clubs remained for black children. The clubs were designed to provide children with practical experience, knowledge, and skills to use and profit from the land and to cultivate interest in agriculture among not only the boys and girls but also their families and communities. The programs were also intended to foster cooperation between communities, local teachers, agricultural colleges, and the county agents.
Consider the difference between this boys' club 1919 report on black clubs to the 1919 report on white club work. What are the differences? What are some explanations of these differences?
Compare this 1919 boys' club work report on white clubs to the 1919 report on black clubs. What are the differences? What are some explanations for these differences?
Tomato club journals are some of the most telling sources of girls' club work. Consider Annie Laura's booklet, What does she say about her experiences? What does she think was most valuable?
Consider Beulah Prapst booklet. How do her experiences compare with Annie Laura's?
Boys’ Clubs
North Carolina adult agricultural education extended to children when the United States Department of Agriculture formally organized corn clubs for young white boys in 1909.[1] Members of corn clubs practiced similar methods of farming as their fathers. In addition to learning farming techniques, the boys calculated yield and production costs and made small profits by selling their corn.[2] Out of the corn club model, pig and poultry clubs also developed in North Carolina.
The Extension Service developed these programs as a more effective means to disseminate new farming techniques because the young boys took more easily to new practices than adults. The Extension Service hoped to create a generation of young successful farmers who would revitalize rural life. The Extension Service was successful in empowering young men to become progressive farmers. However, this created issues when the boys went home to work on their fathers' land. The Extension Service believed parents were one of the major problems standing between a child’s success and failure in club work. In the process of reforming adults through children, the Extension Service risked creating divides within families when sons refused to use the seeds or the methods of their fathers.[3]
Girls’ Clubs
Despite the fact that girls could participate in corn clubs, the United States Department of Agriculture began to develop a suitable program for farm girls. The organization of girls’ clubs in North Carolina occurred in 1911. [4] Extension Service leaders found corn clubs unsuitable for girls, because they were designed to instruct boys on the basics of farming. The intent of the girls’ clubs was not exclusion from “boys’ work”. The Extension Service sought to define a program that would appeal to young girls and make them more likely to stay on the farm. To do this, they gave girls the skills necessary to earn an income and actively participate in the family business. The Extension Service created a new and defined role for young girls on the farm. The programs committed many girls to rural life as they began to perceive new obligations to the farm family. While the Extension Service created opportunities for girls to earn profits, their intent was not to foster independence from rural life or self-reliance. [5]
Canning clubs, often referred to as tomato clubs, engaged girls ages 10-20 in planting and cultivating crops. The girls were responsible for all stages of growing the crop.[6] A comprehensive four-year tomato club program was eventually developed. In the first year, members cultivated tomatoes, learned how to prepare and sell them fresh and preserved, and kept financial records for the season. In addition, the girls participated in community demonstrations and often times created uniforms, aprons, and towels for their presentations.[7] In the second year, members cultivated two types of vegetables depending on market needs. In addition to the requirements of year one, members branched out into making other food products with their vegetables. Throughout the third and fourth years, the members tended perennial gardens and sometimes engaged in fruit cultivation.[8] The girls kept journals on their experiences within the clubs where they documented club activities, progress, and reflected on the overall experience.
Extending Boys' and Girls' Clubs to African Amerians
When John D. Wray became the “Negro Club” leader in 1915, clubs opened up to African American children. There was little difference between the white and black children clubs, besides the fact the clubs had different names, “Farm Maker Clubs” and “Home Maker Clubs.”[9] As late as 1922, Wray a strong desire for adult extension among African American parents whose children were involved in club work. African American club work not only gave children new skills, but children became one of the few resources of agricultural education for their parents. Extension leaders cited instances in which boys’ club work influenced farmers so much that they began to organize local co-operatives in areas without black local agents. [10]
[1]Uricchio, “Corn Clubs: Building the Foundation for Agricultural Extension Education,” 224; Wilma Hammett, Jan Christensen, and Joan Gosper, Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Service: to Family, Community, and North Carolina (Raleigh: North Carolina Family and Consumer Sciences Foundation and North Carolina Extension and Community Association Foundation, 2011), 8.
[2] Uricchio, “Corn Clubs: Building the Foundation for Agricultural Extension Education,” 224.
[3]C.R. Hudson, “Report on Demonstration Work for North Carolina, 1922” UA 102.002, Cooperative Extension Service: Annual Reports, NCSU Libraries' Digital Collections: Rare and Unique Materials, accessed, November 17, 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/1922club.
[4] T.E. Browne, “Report on Agricultural Club Work,” UA 102.002, Cooperative Extension Service: Annual Reports, NCSU Libraries' Digital Collections: Rare and Unique Materials, accessed November 17, 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/1915club.
[5] Ella Agnew, “Girls’ Canning Clubs,” September 17, 1914, The Journal of Education 80, no. 9 (1995): 243.
[6]Jane S. McKimmon, “Annual Report-1912,” UA 102.002, Cooperative Extension Service: Annual Reports, UA102.002, NCSU Libraries' Digital Collections: Rare and Unique Materials, accessed November 17, 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/1912girls.
[7] Mary E. Creswell, “The Home Demonstration Work,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 67 (September 1916): 243, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1013511 (accessed November 16, 2014).
[8] Creswell, “The Home Demonstration Work,” 244.
[9]“Biographical Sketch of John D. Wray, the First African American Club Leader in North Carolina,” UA 102.010, Cooperative Extension Service: 4-H Development Records, NCSU Libraries' Digital Collections: Rare and Unique Materials, accessed November 11, 2014, https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/gng00194.
[10] “Biographical Sketch of John D. Wray, the First African American Club Leader in North Carolina,” Cooperative Extension Service: 4-H Development Records; Cassius R. Hudson, “Negro Boys’ Club Work, 1919," UA 102.002, Cooperative Extension Service: Annual Reports, NCSU Libraries' Digital Collections: Rare and Unique Materials, accessed November 17, 2014, http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/1919aa.