In this Book
- Reaping a Greater Harvest: African Americans, the Extension Service, and Rural Reform in Jim Crow Texas
- Book
- 2007
- Published by: Texas A&M University Press
- Series: Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Commerce
summary
Jim Crow laws pervaded the south, reaching from the famous "separate yet equal" facilities to voting discrimination to the seats on buses. Agriculture, a key industry for those southern blacks trying to forge an independent existence, was not immune to the touch of racism, prejudice, and inequality. In Reaping a Greater Harvest, Debra Reid deftly spotlights the hierarchies of race, class, and gender within the extension service.
Black farmers were excluded from cooperative demonstration work in Texas until the Smith-Lever Agricultural Extension act in 1914. However, the resulting Negro Division included a complicated bureaucracy of African American agents who reported to white officials, were supervised by black administrators, and served black farmers. The now-measurable successes of these African American farmers exacerbated racial tensions and led to pressure on agents to maintain the status quo. The bureau that was meant to ensure equality instead became another tool for systematic discrimination and maintenance of the white-dominated southern landscape.
Historians of race, gender, and class have joined agricultural historians in roundly praising Reid's work.
Black farmers were excluded from cooperative demonstration work in Texas until the Smith-Lever Agricultural Extension act in 1914. However, the resulting Negro Division included a complicated bureaucracy of African American agents who reported to white officials, were supervised by black administrators, and served black farmers. The now-measurable successes of these African American farmers exacerbated racial tensions and led to pressure on agents to maintain the status quo. The bureau that was meant to ensure equality instead became another tool for systematic discrimination and maintenance of the white-dominated southern landscape.
Historians of race, gender, and class have joined agricultural historians in roundly praising Reid's work.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Dedication
- pp. 223-228
- List of Illustration
- pp. vi-x
- SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD
- pp. xi-xii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xiii-xvii
- Introduction
- pp. xix-xxix
- Reaping a Greater Harvest
- 7. Separation Despite Civil Rights
- pp. 129-147
- Bibliographic Essay
- pp. 168-180
- Manuscript and Archival Sources
- pp. 181-198
Additional Information
ISBN
9781603445054
Related ISBN(s)
9781585445714
MARC Record
OCLC
779276076
Pages
328
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-11
Language
English
Open Access
No