Our History
Feeding Ourselves
We
stand on the shoulders of our ancestors.
We know that...
Just over one hundred and forty six years ago, the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves free in the Union.
We know that...two years and six months later, on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and 1,800 troops of the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that the Civil War had ended and all enslaved persons were free. Even though President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect on January 1, 1863, freeing all enslaved persons in those states in rebellion against the United States, for various reasons the decree had not yet taken effect in Texas.
We know that ....one hundred and forty four years later, we celebrate the day we were released from the chains of slavery here in the U.S.
We call this celebration Juneteenth.We know that....after General Gordan Granger read this letter in Galveston, other letters were being written to implement slave codes or black codes that would prevent us for the next hundred years to vote.
We know that...
Some of these codes declared African people as 3/5 th of a person, and denied us to own land.
Other codes prevented us from enjoying just some of the normal routine things one does every day.
For example,We were not allowed to eat in certain restaurants, sit in the front area on public buses, and entering back doors to attend movie theaters.
We know signs like "White Only," were written and placed in prominent places, to attempt to keep us in "our place."
We know "this place" many thought should be"our place" was slavery, or something similar.
We know that
although the laws of slavery and Jim Crow are now yesterday, we know the penitentiary system became the holding cell for many "freed.
We know that
"from the bonds of slavery, and for generations to come, the penitentiary continues to recruit more of our young men than all the colleges put together.
We know that...WE can do a better job than that.
We know that...
just over 41 years ago, one of the prominent leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated for fighting for our rights and three years before him, El Hadj Malik Shabazz (formerly known as Malcolm Little and Malcolm X).
We know that each year, throughout the United States, at, or near the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, celebrations are held to acknowledge his work in overcoming segregation.We know that...
very few have ever read his books.We know there is a difference between being free, and being independent.
We know Dr. King and others sought for our independence.
Now that we are "free."
WE seek independence.
We seek permission from no one.We know the power is in the people.We know.
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"Every school should have a garden. It teaches the student how to think"
Dr. George Washington Carve
The Tuskegee Model
What can we learn from our past?
Just eighteen years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Booker T. Washington constructed a staff of individuals to present to the world a long-term plan for establishing equality for the newly freed African-American by founding the Tuskegee Institute in 1881. Washington's goal was to educate the masses of newly freed slaves with practical training essential to meet the immediate needs of the people. His desire ignited other dedicated staff members including Dr. George Washington Carver and Thomas Campbell.
Dr. George Washing Carver in his
laboratory at Tuskegee Institute.
George Washington Carver was born the son of a slave. Raised in Missouri, Carver grew up in an era of change on America.
Slavery was just abolished, and the many Blacks lacked the skills necessary to compete in a free enterprise system.
Carver was at a further disadvantage because he suffered from health problems. At a young age, he came down with a severe case of whooping cough. He was too frail to do the normal work that was expected at his age.
He therefore wandered about discovering the many facets of nature. He also enjoyed painting. However, when it came to education, he realized that he could not make a living as an artist.
Carver decided to pursue a career in agriculture and went on to receive his masters from Iowa State in agriculture.
In April of 1896, just after completing the requirements for his masters of science degree in agriculture, Carver received a letter from Booker T. Washington, requesting he develop an agricultural department at Tuskegee.
Booker T. Washington had come to the realization that since 85% of the Negroes on the Gulf States were farmers, Tuskegee's greatest need was agricultural department.
When Carver arrived, he discovered that the soil had lost its nutrients due to cotton, thus he planted peanuts to increase the nitrogen in the soil.
Once the soil was prepared from the peanuts, he planted other crops. This process, know as "crop rotation" was invented by Dr. Carver, and used throughout the South, along with growing peanuts to fertilize the soil.
In fact, so many grew peanuts, that instead of letting them rot away, Carver invented over 385 products from the peanut.
These he called, "waste products,"became products like peanut butter, peanut oil, and so, many more that it was said that from the products Carver developed, the South grossed over $200,000,000 annually.
Thomas Monroe Campbell ran away from home in Georgia, to attend Tuskegee in 1899.
Upon arriving, he worked and volunteered at Tuskegee to pay his expenses. he studied under Dr. Carver, and other scholars, before he began to travel and teach others.
After graduating from Tuskegee,Thomas Campbell met with Booker T. Washington to discuss a new project.
Washington said, " I want you to begin a new and rather peculiar type of work...the reason I am anxious for you to begin the work is that the farmers who need instructions most, I fear, are not getting it. We must take, in a larger measure, the information to them...use actual demonstrations rather than speech making only ...instead of telling the farmer what to do, show him how to do, and he will never forget it."
This was the beginning of the Movable school.
Thomas Campbell's travels throughout the South are well documented in his autobiography called, The Movable School Goes to the Negro Farmer.
By the time the idea of a traveling school became a reality, he had built the kind the type of strong rapport with Booker T. Washington that would make him the first paid demonstrator of the movable school.
Afterwards, a wagon named Jesup was funded to transport the movable school about the South.
Our philosophy: each one teach many! |
