Growing a Nation: Seeds of Change Lesson 1: , Embedded Resources

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1 Lesson 1: , Embedded Resources Lesson 1: , Screen 1, Embedded Resource 1 Immigrant arrival The family in this photograph is at Ellis Island in New York Harbor, where immigrants arriving in America were inspected and interviewed. Questions: What risks did this family take to pursue its dream of a new life in America? What dreams do people in America pursue now? What risks are Americans willing to take today to achieve their dreams? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1A Lesson 1: , Screen 1, Embedded Resource 2 Land ownership Read the following text excerpt about the ways land ownership changed during early American history. During the colonial period of America s history, the British Crown carved land up into huge chunks, which it granted to private companies or individuals. These grantees divided the land further and sold it to others. When independence from England came in 1783, America s Founding Fathers needed to develop a new system of land distribution. They agreed that all unsettled lands would come under the authority of the federal government, which could then sell it. Many people who braved the dangers and hardship of settling these new lands were poor, and they often settled as squatters, without clear title to their farms. Through the country s first century, many Americans believed land should be given away free to settlers if they would remain on the property and work it. This was finally accomplished through the Homestead Act of 1862, which opened vast tracts of western land to easy settlement. Questions: Why did the founders of the United States change the way land was divided up and distributed? How would a nation of many landowners contribute to America becoming and remaining a democracy? What effect do you think this had on the growth of the United States? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1A Source: Christopher Conte and Albert R. Karr, American Agriculture: Its Changing Significance, An Outline of the U.S. Economy, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs [online].

2 Lesson 1: , Screen 1, Embedded Resource 3 Soils in America Soil is the medium for growing America s plants. Many regions of the country have land with good soil for growing healthy crops, while other areas have less productive soil. Each state has chosen one kind of representative soil to be its state soil. Go to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service s website Representative and State Soils. Using the links you find, examine the state soil of your state and other states. Questions: How does your state s soil compare to the soils in other states? Overall, what do you think of the quality of the soils in the United States? What effect do you think soil quality has on the growth and economy of a nation? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A soils.usda.gov/gallery/state_soils/#list Lesson 1: , Screen 1, Embedded Resource 4 The role of agriculture in America Most of us don t think about where our next meal will come from because our agricultural system works so well. Yet fewer than a hundred years ago, most Americans lived on farms or ranches and raised much of the food they ate. Questions: Why have so many Americans stopped growing and raising their own food? How important has agriculture been to the growth of America? Why do Americans today have so little understanding of the role of agriculture in our nation? Era 10: Contemporary United States, Standard 2 Lesson 1: , Screen 1, Embedded Resource 5 George Washington Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A

3 Lesson 1: , Screen 1, Embedded Resource 6 Freedom and democracy Throughout America s history, people have come from all around the world seeking freedom. Visit the U.S. Department of State s website to learn about freedom and democracy and then answer the following questions. Questions: What is democracy? What kind of democratic government does the United States have? What elements of a democratic form of government would appeal most to people who live under nondemocratic governments? What impact does democracy have on the lives of its citizens? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1A america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/may/ eaifas html

4 Lesson 1: , Screen 2, Embedded Resource 1 Agriculture in early America Contrary to what many people believe today, the land the first Europeans saw in America did not consist entirely of untouched land and pristine forests. Read this excerpted account of the history of agriculture in southeastern America before the arrival of Europeans. For a minimum of 12,000 years, American Indians had been skillfully manipulating the environment, primarily with fire. The landscapes that the first Europeans encountered were not undisturbed, dense forests as many people today envision. Knowledgeable humans skillfully modified the landscapes to support a population numbering in the millions. The cultivation of the tropical maize, flint corn, and beans along the Mississippi River and in the Gulf States marks the beginning of the Mississippian culture.... The adopted intensive agricultural practices from Mesoamerica influenced the landscape in the Southeast dramatically. Large native populations developed in much of the lower South because the more sophisticated agricultural system produced more food. Without draft animals or plows, agriculture with stone or wood implements was limited to the tillable soils of floodplains, where spring flooding helped renew soil fertility. Agricultural fields were cleared first by girdling trees and then burning the area. The ashes acted as fertilizer. Stumps were also removed over time and in the spring old agricultural debris was burned off before planting. When soil fertility declined from cultivation, fields lay fallow but were burned annually to maintain their open condition for future agricultural use. Most of the cultivatable floodplains of the Southeast were cleared of forest and managed in this way. During the period of European contact, disease-related mortality rose to levels previously unknown and the impact of these diseases was swift and harsh. In areas of the Caribbean, entire native populations were erased. These epidemic diseases were transported from the Caribbean to Mexico and Central America and may have preceded the arrival of the Spanish in these areas. Epidemic diseases were introduced to the natives of the Southeast at about the same time. During the 100 years of Spanish exploration, disease decimated the dominant Mississippian cultures of the Southeast and resulted in their collapse by European diseases not only depopulated American Indian cultures (depopulation is estimated as high as 90 to 95 percent), they disrupted the social structure of native societies. As in all epidemics, mortality was disproportionably greater among the young and old. Loss of the younger generation had profound effects on the integrity of American Indian societies. The loss of manpower created difficulties maintaining agricultural systems and fire regimes. Loss of the elderly eliminated a storehouse of knowledge, tradition, and custom. The arrival of the English continued the epidemic diseases and decimation of American Indians for at least another century. English trade with the natives lured them into dependence on the European fur market for European goods, which in turn diminished the traditional reasons for hunting, while devastating wildlife populations. As the fire regimes and agricultural systems gradually eroded, the appearance of the land began to change. Uncontrolled vegetation began to form an unbroken shroud. The extensive canelands witnessed by English settlers as they pushed inland were signs that the thousands-of-years-old fire ecosystems created by the natives were in decline. Questions: What were the agricultural practices in the United States before European settlers arrived? How and why did Native American agriculture change after Europeans arrived? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 1B Source: Wayne D. Carroll, Peter R. Kapeluck, Richard A. Harper, and David H. Van Lear, Background Paper: Historical Overview of the Southern Forest Landscape and Associated Resources, Final Report Technical, Southern Forest Resource Assessment [online].

5 Lesson 1: , Screen 2, Embedded Resource 2 Three sisters gardening Corn, beans, and squash were some of the staple foods of Native American cultures. These crops were known as the three sisters, because they were commonly planted together as companion crops: each benefits the others as they grow. Examine the article about the three sisters method of agriculture at the GardenWeb. Questions: How did these plants benefit each other? What principles could farmers and scientists learn from this agricultural technique that could be used in growing other crops? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A gardenweb.com/faq/lists/teach/ html Lesson 1: , Screen 2, Embedded Resource 3 Agriculture in Virginia Read the excerpt below regarding trade and the English colony of Virginia in Tobacco was the important money crop, and almost every ship that sailed from a plantation wharf carried hogsheads of the delightful weed in its hold. Many other commodities too, were shipped to the mother country as well as to New England, the middle colonies, Barbados, Madeira, Bermuda, and Jamaica. Exports from one Virginia shipping district -- Porth South Potomac -- in 1732 included (besides tobacco) staves, timber, corn, wheat, peas, beans, masts, pig iron, feathers, pork, cotton, earthernware parcels, woodenware parcels, bacon, hides, deerskins, beaver skins, oak and walnut logs, cider and cider casks, beef, wine pipes, snakeroot, tallow, pewter and brass parcels, and copper ore casks. Items imported included rum, salt, Irish linen, fish, chocolate, molasses, sugar, earthernware, woodware, millstones, Madeira wine, cheese, rice, ironware, and parcels from Great Britain. The latter parcels included furniture fabrics, rugs, pottery and porcelain, silver, pewter, copper and brassware, and other household furnishings and accessories needed by the colonists. Questions: What agricultural products did the people of Virginia export? Which agricultural products might they have had to import, and why? From the text above, what can you determine about the importance of trade between the American colonies and England? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3A Source: J. Paul Hudson, George Washington Birthplace, National Park Service Historical Handbook Series, no. 26 (Washington, D.C., 1956) [online].

6 Lesson 1: , Screen 2, Embedded Resource 4 Colonial agriculture Colonial Williamsburg maintains a website describing life and society during colonial times. Explore their 18th Century Trades Sampler page to learn about trade practices of the time. Questions: What was one of the most important crops in colonial Virginia? How much labor did it require to produce this key southern crop for export? What resources did southern planters have for producing this crop? If many of the crops grown in the southern part of America required large numbers of workers, how would southern farmers react to changes that affected their labor supply? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B history.org/history/teaching/tradsamp.cfm Lesson 1: , Screen 2, Embedded Resource 5 Parliamentary Acts During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, England adopted a series of laws known as Parliamentary Acts. These laws regulated trade from the American colonies by requiring that goods exported to England be sent on British ships. One section of these laws, the Navigation Acts, required that the colonies transport their most expensive products back to England and pay costly import taxes for this right. The Navigation Acts also restricted other exports from the colonies. Although these laws had been in effect for many years, they were not strictly enforced. Beginning in 1764, however, the British passed additional acts that heavily taxed the colonies and eventually led to open rebellion. Questions: How might these various acts affect agricultural trade? What did the colonists mean when they claimed they had taxation without representation? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B Source: The Colonies Move toward Open Rebellion, , The American Revolution, , Library of Congress [online]. Lesson 1: , Screen 2, Embedded Resource 6 Early farm implements Questions: Looking at this equipment, what agricultural products would you guess this farmer raised? Do you think these tools belonged to a poor farmer or a wealthy farmer? Why? In what ways, if any, would these tools be labor-saving devices? How do you think this farmer obtained these tools? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B

7 Lesson 1: , Screen 3, Embedded Resource 1 Thomas Jefferson Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B Lesson 1: , Screen 3, Embedded Resource 2 George Washington George Washington served America in many roles, including first U.S. President, Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Army, and farmer. Visit the Mount Vernon website to read about George Washington s contributions to agriculture. Questions: Why do you think George Washington was so passionate about the land? Does it surprise you that the President of the United States was a farmer? Why or why not? Era 2: Colonization and Settlement, Standard 3B mountvernon.org/learn/explore_mv/index.cfm/ss/31/cfid/588825/cftoken/ Lesson 1: , Screen 3, Embedded Resource 3 Horse-drawn reaper Cyrus McCormick, sometimes referred to as the Father of Modern Agriculture, made one of the most significant contributions to the success of U.S. agriculture by inventing the horse-drawn reaper in Read McCormick s biography on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology website to learn more about this remarkable man and his invention. Questions: Why is Cyrus McCormick called the Father of Modern Agriculture? Why was his invention so important to the success of U.S. agriculture? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A web.mit.edu/invent/iow/mccormick.html

8 Lesson 1: , Screen 3, Embedded Resource 4 Jefferson s plow In addition to being a philosopher, statesman, and scientist, Thomas Jefferson was also an inventor. Visit the website Monticello, Home of Thomas Jefferson to learn about one of his inventions. Questions: Why was Thomas Jefferson successful in so many areas of his life? Why was he so passionate about agriculture and improving farming? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/moldboard-plow Lesson 1: , Screen 3, Embedded Resource 5 Plantations vs. farms Examine this excerpt about southern plantations and farms. A [plantation was a] landholding large enough to be distinguished from the family farm, generally over 250 acres[,] a distinct division of labor and management, with the latter primarily handled by the owner but often administered through an overseer[,] specialized production, usually with one or two cash crops...[,] location in the South in an area with a plantation tradition[,] centralized control[,] and finally, a considerable input of cultivating labor or power per unit of area. In contrast, Southern farms were smaller parcels of land that were generally run at the subsistence level by families. Farmers grew a greater variety of crops than did most planters, and they consumed much of their harvests themselves. They also depended on smaller labor forces--generally family members and in some cases a few slaves [with slave family groups often broken up through sales]. In contrast to a plantation, a farm was typically administered by the owner without an overseer, thereby blurring the delineation between management and physical labor. Great planters with very large holdings were a small minority among landowners. In 1860, only 2,300 planters (about five percent) owned 100 or more slaves. Thus the landscapes that they created were the exception rather than the rule in the antebellum South. Statistically, however, a significant percentage of slaves lived and worked on large plantations. That blacks living on plantations were gathered into such large groups explains, in part, how they were able to develop such strong family alliances and ultimately forge a distinct culture. Questions: What were the differences between plantations and farms? What is different about the number of types of crops grown on each? Why? Why were black family groups more stable on large plantations than on small farms? What percentage of southern farmers owned plantations? Era 3: Revolution & the New Nation, Standard 2B Source: Theresa Anne Murphy, Scholarship on Southern Farms and Plantations, National Park Service [online].

9 Lesson 1: , Screen 3, Embedded Resource 6 Horsepower One horsepower was originally defined as the amount of power required to lift 33,000 pounds one foot in one minute, or 550 foot-pounds per second. Scottish inventor James Watt (born in 1736) established the value for horsepower after he determined the strength of the average horse. Questions: In what other contexts have you heard the term horsepower? Besides agriculture, what have horses been used for? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Lesson 1: , Screen 4, Embedded Resource 1 Louisiana Purchase President Thomas Jefferson acquired the Louisiana Territory by purchasing it from France in With this purchase, the geographical size of the United States doubled. Questions: Why would this large addition to the territory of the United States excite farmers, ranchers, and immigrants? How do you think the Indian tribes living in this region may have felt about their land being owned by the United States? Why? What challenges did families who wanted to establish farms or ranches in this new territory face? What challenges would the acquisition of such a large area of land pose to a young democratic government? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 1A

10 Lesson 1: , Screen 4, Embedded Resource 2 U.S. transportation in 1850 This map of the United States, published about 1850, outlines all the major canals, railroads, and principal stage routes in the country. Questions: What impact did these transportation systems have on the growth of the United States? How could farmers and ranchers benefit from these transportation systems? How did new transportation routes to the West affect the settlement of new American territories? Why were there fewer transportation systems in the southern United States? What did this difference mean for southern agriculture? How have improvements in modern transportation affected agriculture today? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Lesson 1: , Screen 4, Embedded Resource 3 Plantation agriculture Examine this National Park website on plantation agriculture. Be sure to click on the links about rice and cotton. Questions: How important were rice and cotton to the southern United States? What kind of labor was required to farm these crops? How would the abolition of slavery after the Civil War affect the production of these crops in the South? What are some of the major crops grown in your state today? How much labor is required to produce these crops, and who provides the labor? Era 3: Revolution & the New Nation, Standard 2B cr.nps.gov/goldcres/cultural/planthome.html

11 Lesson 1: , Screen 4, Embedded Resource 4 Cotton gin This is the drawing that Eli Whitney submitted to receive his patent for the cotton gin. After the invention of the cotton gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after Demand was fueled by other cotton-related inventions of the Industrial Revolution, such as the machines to spin and weave it and the steamboat to transport it. By mid-century America was growing three-quarters of the world s supply of cotton, most of it shipped to England or New England where it was manufactured into cloth. During this time tobacco fell in value, rice exports stayed steady at best, and sugar began to thrive, but only in Louisiana. At mid-century the South provided three-fifths of America s exports--most of it in cotton. However, like many inventors, Whitney (who died in 1825) could not have foreseen the ways his invention would change society for the worse. The most significant of these was the growth of slavery. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor needed to remove seeds, it did not reduce the demand for slaves to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their requirements for both land and slave labor. Questions: What other agricultural inventions have had unintended positive and negative consequences in American history? Why? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2D Source: Eli Whitney s Patent for the Cotton Gin, National Archives [online]. Lesson 1: , Screen 4, Embedded Resource 5 Labor force In 1860, farmers made up 58 percent of the labor force. It is estimated that during the Civil War over a million farmers left their fields to serve as soldiers. Questions: What did the North and South do to make up for this critical loss of farm labor? How would the loss of men working on farms and ranches have affected American society? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Source: History of American Agriculture, , U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

12 Lesson 1: , Screen 4, Embedded Resource 6 Southern dependency Although the South experienced prosperity for many years because of its cotton and tobacco plantations, it depended on the northern states for many of life s necessities. Henry Grady, editor of an Atlanta, Georgia newspaper, gave his account of a funeral he attended. The grave was dug through solid marble, but the marble headstone came from Vermont. It was a pine wilderness but the pine coffin came from Cincinnati. An iron mountain overshadowed it but the coffin nails and screws and the shovel came from Pittsburgh.... A hickory grove grew nearby, but the pick and shovel handles came form New York.... That country, so rich in underdeveloped resources, furnished nothing for the funeral except the corpse and the hole in the ground. Questions: How did this economic dependency contribute to the Civil War? What part did this dependency play in ending the Civil War? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2B Source: J. Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations (New York: Random House, 1984). Lesson 1: , Screen 5, Embedded Resource 1 Abraham Lincoln and agriculture On May 15, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act of Congress into law establishing at the seat of Government of the United States a Department of Agriculture. Read this brief history, entitled Abraham Lincoln and Agriculture, at the National Agriculture Library website. Questions: What aspects of Lincoln s life made him enthusiastic about agriculture? What did he do as President to make sure that agriculture was successful in America? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A nal.usda.gov/speccoll/exhibits/lincoln

13 Lesson 1: , Screen 5, Embedded Resource 2 Commissioner of Agriculture Isaac Newton, first Commissioner of Agriculture Before the Department of Agriculture became a Cabinet-level agency in 1889, the head of the USDA was called the Commissioner of Agriculture. In 1862, President Lincoln appointed Isaac Newton the first Commissioner. The act creating the USDA directed the Commissioner to: acquire and preserve in his Department all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain by means of books and correspondence, and by practical and scientific experiments (accurate records of which experiments shall be kept in his office), by the collection of statistics, and by any other appropriate means within his power to collect, as he may be able, new and valuable seeds and plants to test, by cultivation, the value of such of them as may require such tests to propagate such as may be worthy of propagation, and to distribute them among agriculturists. Questions: How is the Secretary of Agriculture selected today? To whom does he/she report? Why is this position so important? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963). Lesson 1: , Screen 5, Embedded Resource 3 Entomology at the USDA Townend Glover, USDA entomologist One of the first entomologists (insect scientists) employed by the USDA was Townend Glover. USDA Commissioner Newton encouraged Glover to start a museum containing Glover s extensive collection of insects, as well as models of fruits. Commissioner Newton established an agricultural museum on August 1, 1864, with Glover as curator. Today, Glover s insect collection is part of the National Entomological Collection jointly managed by the USDA and the Smithsonian s National Museum of Natural History. The collection, which is one of the largest in the world, contains thousands of specimens from the United States and all parts of the world. The large holdings of agriculturally important species make this collection an important source for research and for identification of insect pest groups. Questions: How can the study of insects advance our knowledge about agriculture? Why is agriculture influenced so strongly by insects? What insects would you study if you were an entomologist? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

14 Lesson 1: , Screen 5, Embedded Resource 4 Land-grant institutions The three cornerstones of the land-grant approach--teaching, research, and extension--have improved the economic well-being and quality of life of all Americans. The first Morrill Act, passed in 1862, established land-grant institutions so that the average citizen could obtain an education. These colleges offered courses in agriculture and mechanical arts in addition to classical studies. Visit the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges website to learn the what, why, where, who, when, and how of land-grant colleges. Questions: What is the purpose of land-grant institutions? What does this tell you about the priority of research and education in the U.S. government? How has the tradition of land-grant universities affected you and your family? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A aplu.org/page.aspx?pid=1565 Lesson 1: , Screen 5, Embedded Resource 5 Disseminating research The USDA issued its first research bulletin in This first issue presented new research findings about the sugar content of several grape varieties and the suitability of each for wine making. Questions: What is the purpose of keeping others up to date on current research? Is it possible that the research was already out of date by the time the bulletin was published? What means do we have for communicating research findings today? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

15 Lesson 1: , Screen 5, Embedded Resource 6 Insects and agriculture Organic insecticides have been researched and used for many years in America. Read this brief history of insecticides from The Yearbook of Agriculture, Potato growers in the Eastern States were alarmed in the 1860s by the advances of the Colorado potato beetle. Nothing was effective against it until someone began to use paris green, an arsenic compound, that had been used for many years to color paints, wallpaper, and fabrics. Later it was fond to be effective against cankerworm on fruit trees, the codling moth, and the cotton caterpillar. For many years the standard agricultural insecticides were paris green or London purple (another arsenical) for chewing insects and kerosene-soap emulsion for sucking insects. Pyrethrum [a substance extracted from chrysanthemums, a variety of soaps, and oil from the Neem tree] was used for household insects. Efforts to combat the attacks of the gypsy moth in New England forests led in 1892 to the use of lead arsenate, which was more effective than paris green and less injurious to foliage. Great amounts of lead arsenate were used later in orchards against the codling moth and many other insects. Powdered lead arsenate was tried against the boll weevil on cotton. It gave some control and led to the development [in] about 1916 of calcium arsenate, which came into use throughout the Cotton Belt. Lime-sulfate was used against San Jose scale beginning in The fumigation of citrus trees in California with hydrocyanic acid gas was started in Questions: Why was it important to research and develop effective insecticides? Is it as important today? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1962).

16 Lesson 1: , Screen 6, Embedded Resource 1 Postwar agriculture in the South The following account describes life in postwar Georgia. The southern states were devastated by the Civil War. Georgia, for example, lost sixty-six percent of its developed resources during the war. Post-war farming practices in the south were in the midst of monumental changes as former slaves were emancipated. Prior to the war there were more than a thousand plantations in Georgia that were at least one thousand acres in size, but after the war farm size was based on the area a man could manage through his own labor, with the assistance of his family or contracted labor. In addition: The plantations (farms) of the country were in a rough and dilapidated condition generally: stock, mules and horses for plow-teams were scarce, as was also grain to feed them... most of the seed was old and imperfect from neglect during the war... and the laborers generally disinclined to do full work. Questions: How did the emancipation of slaves change farm life in the southern states? How did it change life in the rest of the United States? Era 4: Expansion and Reform, Standard 2A Sources: P. B. Haney, W. J. Lewis, and W.R. Lambert. Cotton Production and the Boll Weevil in Georgia: History, Cost of Control, and Benefits of Eradication, Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Georgia (Research Bulletin, no. 428, November 1996). Lesson 1: , Screen 6, Embedded Resource 2 Sharecropping Sharecropping is often thought of as an activity that involved only poor African American farmers. However, many sharecroppers were poor white farmers. Below is an excerpt from Better a Tent than a Mortgage, the oral history of a poor white farmer named Walter Strother, collected by writer L. E. Cogburn as part of the Federal Writers Project ( ). This government project provided work for many writers during the Great Depression. I was born on the Wateree River fifty years ago, and lived there until I was six years old. My father then moved to Derrick s Pond, about seventeen miles southeast of Columbia, [South Carolina]. The next year, when I was just seven years old, my father left us. I am the oldest of his family of seven children. In order to help my mother support our family, I had to plow in the fields at the age of eight years. I became a regular plowhand by the time I was ten. Mr. [Kerningham?], on whose place we lived, hired me by the day, at a wage of forty cents a day. We earned so little that my mother could afford continued on next page

17 to buy only the bare necessities. There were days that we had to go hungry. I, in the meantime, had received but a few months of schooling. I didn t have time to go to school. I had to work. When I was twelve years old, and my brothers were large enough to help I asked Mr. Kerningham to let us work a sharecrop. I felt that this would afford us more to eat, because of an advance on a sharecrop. I ll never forget the morning I went to Mr. Kerningham and asked him for a sharecrop. He was fixing to go to Columbia. Already had his horse hitched to the buggy. He said to me, Son, you can t manage a farm. I looked at him square in the face and said, Give me a chance. He told me he would think it over, and for me to come back in a few days. I didn t wait. I went back the next day, and he said, Walter, I have decided to do it. When do you want to move? Right away, I told him. Go and catch Kit and Beck and hitch them to the wagon and move, he told me. That year, I made seven bales of cotton and plenty of corn, peas, and potatoes. And we didn t have to go hungry at any time. Mr. Kerningham used the lien system to run his farm. He traded with M. E. C. Shull, who ran a big grocery store in Columbia on Main Street, between Taylor and Blanding. That fall, after we started to pick cotton, I went to Mr. Kerningham and said, I have a bale of cotton out. You know you haven t a bale already, he replied. Yes, I have, too. When do you want to gin it? It s bringing a little more than eight cents now. I ll do as you say. You know best. Suppose you gin it tomorrow, he said. He had a gin on the place, and the next day I had it ginned. I went to Mr. Kerningham and said, I want you to sell it for me. No, you take the wagon and haul it to Columbia and sell. I ll meet you at the store. I tied my mules to the hitching post on Assembly Street. I remembered how my father did when he sold cotton. I cut the side of each bale and pulled a sample and took it to the buyer and asked him what he would bid on it. Taking the samples and examining them he said, I ll give you eight cents. Might give you more after I see the bales. Where are they? We went to the wagon, and he pulled a sample from each bale. After examining it, he said: I ll give you eight and a half, if you ll sell it now and not try to get a higher bidder. I sold it to him and took the check to the store and met Mr. Kerningham. He said to me, Have you sold your cotton? continued on next page

18 Yes, sir, I replied. And at the same time I handed him the check. What did you get for it? he asked. Eight and a half cents a pound. That s good. We walked to the back end of the store. He sat down on a bag of oats, and I sat on,--i don t remember what. I didn t know much rithmetic, but I had already counted up what was to come to me. He was dividing it up, after taking off the cost of bagging and ties and ginning. He said to me, You have so-and-so for your part. How much do you want? Not a dime. You don t want any at all? No, sir. Put it to my credit on my account, I told him. I furnished the labor and paid for half the fertilizer, and he furnished and fed the stock and paid for half the fertilizer. We divided everything that was made half-and-half, except the potatoes. I had all of these that I made. I worked this way two years with Mr. Kerningham. Saw that he was getting the best of it, as I thought then. But there wasn t the slightest misunderstanding between us. The next year, I moved away from him and rented. I bought a plug mule and got one of those liens. Had a bad crop year, and didn t make enough to pay the rent and lien. I took the mule back to the man I bought it from. He didn t have to come for it. I explained to him that I had nothing to pay, and he was mighty nice about it. Took the mule back and didn t blame me. I sold everything to settle up and was left flat again, like the first time I went to the old man. I found out that I made a mistake when I left Mr. Kerningham. I went back and asked him for a crop again, and he gave it to me. I was a pretty big boy then, whole lot of difference from the first time. This year I made a good crop, got a fair price for it, and cleared a little money. Questions: What is the farmer s attitude about sharecropping? What lessons, if any, can be learned from the way Walter Strother faced the challenges of his life as a sharecropper? Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction, Standard 2B Source: L. E. Cogburn, Better a Tent Than a Mortgage, American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers Project, , Library of Congress, American Memory [online].

19 Lesson 1: , Screen 6, Embedded Resource 3 Plowing with mules Until the invention of tractors, horses and mules were the primary source of power for farmers to do their work on the farm and ranch. Examine the image above of a farmer plowing his field. A team of two horses or mules pulling a walking plow could work only about two acres per day. This limited the practical size of the farm for one farmer to about one hundred acres. In contrast, when early steam tractors became available after 1868, they could plow an acre in just half an hour. Questions: How many acres could a farmer plow in a twelve-hour day with a steam plow? What impact do you think changing from horse to machine power had on the average size of farms in America? What factors may have kept some farmers from modernizing to steam- and later gas-powered tractors? What factors today keep people from adopting new technologies for work? What factors encourage them to adopt new technologies? Era 6: Expansion and Reform, Standard 1B Sources: Farming in the 1920s: Machines, Wessels Living History Farm, York, Nebraska [online]; and Franklin Harris and George Stewart, The Principles of Agronomy (New York: Macmillan, 1930).

20 Lesson 1: , Screen 6, Embedded Resource 4 Reconstruction The period of rebuilding in the South after the Civil War was called Reconstruction. Here is an account of Reconstruction from a publication by the National Park Service. Although the exact dates demarcating Reconstruction are not universally agreed upon, Eric Foner indicates the years 1863 to 1877: the period from the Emancipation Proclamation to the year that the ideal of Reconstruction to protect the fundamental rights of all citizens gave way to southern Redemption and home rule, the equivalent to white rule. (Still others might point to 1883 as the end of Reconstruction, the year the Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.) By law, at least, African Americans made significant gains for their rights as citizens during Reconstruction. Racism prevailed however, and once Southern Redemption took hold by the 1880s, racist policies continued and proliferated. Federal laws, Supreme Court decisions, and presidential initiatives would vacillate between furthering and hindering the civil rights of African Americans. Following the Civil War, Congress amended the Constitution in ways that confirmed American democracy and raised the hopes of African Americans for attaining equality. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of 1865 and 1867 ended the institution of slavery and guaranteed equal protection under the law regardless of race, respectively. The adoption of restrictive Black Codes by southern states however, sought to secure white supremacy and keep blacks as a laboring class. President Andrew Johnson s moderate policy supported the concerns of the South and did little to advance blacks civil rights. Nonetheless, Congress passed bills to ensure civil rights and enforce Reconstruction in the South with the passage of a civil rights bill in 1866 and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 (i.e., Radical Reconstruction ). Finally, the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869 allowed black men to vote. The federal government did much to improve and aid the newly freed slaves through the establishment of the Freedmen s Bureau in Among the many services provided, the Bureau supplied legal aid, set up schools, and provided health care. Also during Reconstruction, African-American men gained seats in Congress: two in the Senate and twenty in the House of Representatives. Despite the accomplishments, racism operated to subvert equality and justice. The economic depression of the 1870s was particularly severe in the South: yeomen farmers were engulfed by poverty and planters by indebtedness. Just as African Americans were increasing their political influence, the depression limited their power to influence working conditions: independent black farming became difficult so that most owners and renters were reduced to sharecroppers and wage laborers. Resentment and resistance among white southerners would increasingly undermine the law of the land through organized acts of violence and state legislation. Supreme Court decisions hastened the end of Reconstruction. Under the Enforcement Act of 1870, indictments were made against several southerners who were charged with preventing blacks from voting. In 1875, the Court s decisions favored the defendants and interpreted the Fifteenth Amendment in an ambiguous fashion. By 1877, radical Republicanism gave way to conservative policies favoring southern Democrats and home rule was restored to southern states. Finally, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was declared unconstitutional in 1883 and the constitutional laws that were supposed to guarantee African-American citizenship rights were successfully subverted. Questions: What were the goals of Reconstruction? What obstacles did Reconstruction face? How well were the goals of Reconstruction achieved? Era 5: Civil War and Reconstruction, Standard 2B Source: Theresa Anne Murphy, Scholarship on Southern Farms and Plantations, National Park Service [online].

21 Lesson 1: , Screen 6, Embedded Resource 5 Booker T. Washington Explore the overview of the life of Booker T. Washington at the National Park Services website: Legends of Tuskegee. Questions: Why did Booker T. Washington believe so strongly that education was the way for African Americans to achieve true freedom? Why were agricultural studies such an important part of the Tuskegee Institute? What personal qualities made Booker T. Washington such a great educator and leader? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1 cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/btwoverview.htm Lesson 1: , Screen 6, Embedded Resource 6 George Washington Carver Explore the overview of the life of George Washington Carver at the National Park Services website: Legends of Tuskegee. Questions: What sacrifices did George Washington Carver have to make to get an education? What sacrifices do people in our time have to make to get an education? Contrast and compare these differences. Why should a person make these sacrifices? What was the purpose behind all of George Washington Carver s many scientific research efforts? Who benefited from his research? Why did he create a moveable school? Why would colleges and universities want or need to extend themselves to reach out to students outside of traditional classrooms? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1 cr.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/gwcoverview.htm Lesson 1: , Screen 7, Embedded Resource 1 The Homestead Act Visit the Homestead National Monument of America website to learn more about the Homestead Act of Questions: Why has the Homestead Act of 1862 been called one the most important pieces of legislation in the history of the United States? If you had been around in the1860s, would you have tried to claim a homestead? Why or why not? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C nps.gov/home/historyculture/abouthomesteadactlaw.htm

22 Lesson 1: , Screen 7, Embedded Resource 2 Grasshopper Commission Charles Valentine Riley, USDA entomologist From 1873 to 1877, grasshoppers from the Northwest invaded many Western States and territories. In some states the destruction of crops was so serious that it caused starvation among pioneer families. USDA entomologist, Charles Valentine Riley, studied the plague and worked to bring it to the attention of Congress. In March of 1877, he succeeded in securing passage of a bill that created the United States Entomological Commission (sometimes called the Grasshopper Commission). Questions: What does an entomologist do? Why was it important for the USDA to have a group of entomologists? Entomologists are agricultural scientists who do not work on farms; what other agricultural careers are not located on farms? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1D Source: The National Agricultural Library [online]. Lesson 1: , Screen 7, Embedded Resource 3 The nation s breadbasket The Great Plains, which extends across central North America, includes some of the best farmland in our nation, with rich, productive soil and a favorable climate. After the adoption of the Homestead Act, settlers began moving into this area, and by the late 1800s the average size farm in this region was nearly 150 acres. Questions: Why is this area called America s breadbasket? Are there other areas in the world that are equally productive? What parts do soil and climate play in making this area the breadbasket? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: North American Bread basket (map), Harper College, Palatine, Illinois [online]; and History of American Agriculture, , U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

23 Lesson 1: , Screen 7, Embedded Resource 4 Sod houses Farmer homesteaders in the Great Plains were sometimes called sodbusters. These hardy pioneers, often new immigrants, dealt with inadequate housing, water, and fuel as well as extreme environmental conditions. Characteristically persevering people, they made the land productive and built houses, called soddies, from the earth. The sod house reflects the never-say-die attitude of these farmers. Questions: Why would people want to homestead knowing that they would face such harsh living conditions in a sod house? Are there people living in similar circumstances today? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Lesson 1: , Screen 7, Embedded Resource 5 Barbed wire When pioneers began settling their new homesteads across the Great Plains, they found few trees or other fence-building materials to secure their livestock. Settlers initially built fences from thin, smooth wire, but soon learned that the smooth wire would not prevent their animals from wandering off. Then, in 1868, Michael Kelly invented the first improved wire fencing--barbed wire. In 1874, Joseph Glidden improved upon Kelly s design, and by the mid-1870s the widespread use of barbed wire had greatly changed life in the western United States. Author Robert Clifton wrote the following: The invention of barbed wire probably had as much influence on the settlement of the American West as the revolver and the repeating rifle. It certainly had a greater civilizing effect, for the progress of the taming of the frontier is reflected in the increasing number and diversification of barbed wire patents in the final decades of the last century. Questions: Why did Clifton say that barbed wire had as much influence on the settlement of the American West as the revolver and the repeating rifle? What other inventions made a dramatic impact on the settlement of the West? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1B Source: Robert Clifton, Barbs, Prongs, Points, Prickers and Stickers: A Complete and Illustrated Catalogue of Antique Barbed Wire (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998).

24 Lesson 1: , Screen 7, Embedded Resource 6 The plight of the Indians The Plains Indians way of life was destroyed by the slaughter of the buffalo, which were almost exterminated by indiscriminate hunting in the decade after Read this excerpt from the U.S. State Department s Outline of American History. Government policy ever since the Monroe administration had been to move the Indians beyond the reach of the white frontier. But inevitably the reservations had become smaller and more crowded, and many began to protest the government s treatment of Native Americans. Helen Hunt Jackson, for example, an Easterner living in the West, wrote a book, A Century of Dishonor (1881), which dramatized the Indians plight and struck a chord in the nation s conscience. Most reformers believed the Indian should be assimilated into the dominant culture. The federal government even set up a school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in an attempt to impose white values and beliefs on Indian youths. (It was at this school that Native American Jim Thorpe, often considered the best athlete the U.S. has produced, gained fame in the early 20th century.) In 1887 the Dawes Act reversed U.S. Indian policy, permitting the president to divide up tribal land and parcel out 65 hectares of land to each head of a family. Such allotments were to be held in trust by the government for 25 years, after which time the owner won full title and citizenship. Lands not thus distributed, however, were offered for sale to settlers. This policy, however well-intentioned, proved disastrous, since it allowed more plundering of Indian lands. Moreover, its assault on the communal organization of tribes caused further disruption of traditional culture. In 1934 U.S. policy was reversed again by the Indian Reorganization Act, which attempted to protect tribal and communal life on the reservations. Questions: How and why did the U.S. government policy toward the Indians change at the end of the1800s? What other options could the government have pursued in dealing with American Indian tribes? What impact did the policy of removing Indians from their tribal lands have on agricultural expansion in the United States? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Source: Howard Cincotta, ed., Plight of the Indians, An Outline of American History, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Information Programs [online].

25 Lesson 1: , Screen 8, Embedded Resource 1 The Panama Canal While the transcontinental railroad connected America by land, the Panama Canal helped connect it by sea. Before the canal, goods and people traveling by boat had to go all the way around the tip of South America to get from one coast to the other a trip of eight thousand miles. Beginning in 1914, the Panama Canal shortened this trip considerably by allowing boats to travel across Panama through a series of locks. The canal, which took ten years to complete, was an amazing engineering feat for its time. Watch this film to see how the canal operates and visit this Panama Canal website to learn more about locks. Questions: Why was the Panama Canal important to America? How would this canal help agriculture? What other transportation advances have helped commerce in America? Sources: Text adapted from Library of Congress, America s Story from America s Library, Jump Back in Time: The Modern Era (online); stock newsreel excerpts obtained from CBS, c , courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C pancanal.com/eng/general/howitworks/index.html Lesson 1: , Screen 8, Embedded Resource 2 Pushing westward The westward push of the U.S. population created the need for a dependable transportation system. The transcontinental railroad was the answer. Markets expanded and opportunities for trade were enhanced. Questions: Do you think all farmers and ranchers were glad to see the railroad come through their land? Do you think that some of them were angry about the railroads? Why or why not? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C

26 Lesson 1: , Screen 8, Embedded Resource 3 Refrigerated boxcar Refrigerated boxcars created a national market for fresh produce for the first time. Before refrigerated transport, farmers who wanted to sell their produce across the country were left with few options. Those who chose to transport their produce by railroad risked having it rot in the extreme heat or freeze in the bitter cold. The invention of the refrigerated railroad car in 1867 allowed farmers to deliver their products to cities across the country and gave consumers access to better and more nutritious foods. Questions: New inventions can often solve old problems, but may present new problems as well. While the railroads solved many transportation problems, they also presented the risk of produce damage until refrigerator cars were invented. What other inventions have both solved and created problems? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: Barbara Krasner-Khait, The Impact of Refrigeration, History Magazine [online]. Lesson 1: , Screen 8, Embedded Resource 4 Chisholm Trail In the 1800s, moving cattle from range to market involved cowboys driving cattle along established trails. As railroads moved westward, ranchers were able to significantly reduce the distance they had to drive their cattle. Read about cattle trailing and the railroads at the Handbook of Texas Online to answer the following questions. Questions: Why did ranchers want to move their cattle from Texas to other states? Why was Abilene, Kansas, selected as a major end point on the cattle trail? What can you learn about supply and demand from Texas cattle trailing? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ayc01

27 Lesson 1: , Screen 8, Embedded Resource 5 The Grange Organization Since the 1700s, American farmers have formed organizations to promote and support agricultural and farmer interests. Early farm organizations during the eighteenth century took the form of agricultural societies with the primary purpose of exchanging useful information. During periods of economic stress, farmers sometimes formed other short-lived groups whose motives were to change government policies and improve the economic conditions of farmers. Visit the website of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, and then answer the following questions. Questions: Why was the Grange organized? What purpose did it serve in the past and what purpose does it serve today? What role can organizations such as this play in influencing government decisions? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C nationalgrange.org/about-us Lesson 1: , Screen 8, Embedded Resource 6 Agricultural experiment stations By the 1800s, scientists were beginning to realize the potential benefits science could bring to agriculture; however, scientific information did not always reach the farmers who needed it. During the mid-1870s, two men, Samuel W. Johnson of Connecticut and Eugene W. Hilgard of California, worked to solve this problem by establishing agricultural experiment stations in their states. In 1875, Johnson, an agricultural chemist, helped found the first State Agricultural Experiment Station in Connecticut, modeled after those he had seen in Germany. Hilgard, also a chemist, founded an experiment station at the University of California a few months after the Connecticut station began operations. In 1887, the Hatch Act authorized grants to fund agricultural experiment stations at each of the land-grant universities established by the Morrill Act of Congress established these stations to conduct agricultural research and to distribute the information and knowledge created through scientific discovery to farmers. The federal government s support of agricultural research continues today at land-grant and other colleges and universities, as well as at experiment stations. Questions: Why would the federal government promote agricultural research? What role does research serve in the advancement of a nation? What is the purpose of disseminating information and research results to the community? What role does research play in improving the community? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).

28 Lesson 1: , Screen 9, Embedded Resource 1 Microscopes Although Hans and Zacharias Janssen of Holland built the first compound microscope around 1595, it took several centuries for the microscope to become a common scientific instrument. Many inventors made improvements over time, so that by the 1800s the basic design of the microscope was firmly in place. Widespread use of the microscope during the late nineteenth century revolutionized science, including the study of agricultural science at the Department of Agriculture, where a special Division of Microscopy was established in USDA scientists soon began studying plant diseases using the latest microscope technology, as described in the following excerpt. Systematic study of diseases of plants began in 1871, when Thomas Taylor was appointed to head the newly created Division of Microscopy. Taylor had been trained in science in his native Scotland and in medicine at Georgetown University. He was enthusiastic about the potential value of the microscope in agricultural research, and his division was given the responsibility for all work with microscopes in the Department. Taylor made some outstanding contributions on plant disease. The Division of Microscopy was abolished July 1, 1895, after which other divisions were permitted to use microscopes. Questions: How did the use of microscopes improve agricultural research? How has this tool benefited other fields? What other inventions have influenced the advancement of scientific research? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Sources: G. Baker, J. Porter, W. Rasmussen, and V. Wiser, eds., Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington, D.C.: Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963); and Helen R. Purtle, History of the Microscope, National Museum of Health and Medicine (1974) [online]. Lesson 1: , Screen 9, Embedded Resource 2 Cattle fever In 1890, a disease among cattle caused widespread losses for ranchers, especially in the South. Southern cattle were often driven to northern markets, spreading a trail of disease along the way. Northern cattle, taken to the South for breeding, often contracted the disease and died. Go to the Agricultural Research Service website to learn how early scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture solved the mystery of this previously unknown fever and ended a significant agricultural problem. Questions: What was the cause of this fever in cattle? How did the USDA researchers determine the cause? What scientific breakthrough did this research lead to, and how did it help solve other major illnesses? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/tick.htm

29 Lesson 1: , Screen 9, Embedded Resource 3 Food and nutrition The nineteenth century saw many changes as scientists discovered new knowledge that would impact the daily lives of all Americans. Wilbur O. Atwater was one of those scientists. In 1869, he published tables showing the chemical composition of foods. For his groundbreaking work, Atwater is known as the Father of Human Nutrition. Read the following excerpt about Atwater s efforts. In early 1893, the odds that Wilbur Olin Atwater would get public support for his grand plan for food investigations were slim to none. In fact, the future of the Office of Experiment Stations, which he had worked hard to establish, was in doubt. But as often happens to people of vision, an angel interceded in the form of a close personal friend of the Secretary of Agriculture who knew and admired Atwater. On May 23, the Secretary wrote: Mr. Edward Atkinson of Boston suggests the expediency of establishing food laboratories... With those simple words, the door was pried open for the first federal funding of human nutrition research in the United States. Although it took another year of intensive skirmishing and skillful diplomacy, Atwater s efforts paid off. In May 1894, the agricultural appropriations bill included ten thousand dollars for food investigations. At that time, knowledge of nutrients and their functions was very limited. It was known that carbohydrates and fat provided energy to maintain body temperature and do muscular work, and protein had the added duty of building and repairing tissues, but vitamins were unknown. Only a few major minerals, such as calcium and phosphorus, were recognized as somehow essential but their role in the body was unclear. Atwater s quest for scientific understanding of nutrition was coupled with the social consciousness of the day. In an 1894 letter, he wrote: The individual man is coming to realize that he is his brother s keeper, and that his brother is not only of his household but may live on the other side of the world. With all these thoughtful people the conviction is growing that there is one fundamental condition of the intellectual and moral elevation of the poor, the ignorant, the weak, the destitute, namely the improvement of their physical condition. As a special agent for USDA, Atwater scouted top European laboratories and solicited articles and abstracts from the foremost researchers in agricultural and human nutrition studies. These were translated and printed in the Experiment Station Record, one of three periodicals Atwater began as director of USDA s Office of Experiment Stations. continued on next page

30 In the ten years that Atwater headed the federal nutrition program, he conducted or coordinated research in four areas: --Types and amounts of foods consumed by different groups. --Chemical composition of foods. --Effects of cooking and food processing on nutritional quality. --Learning about the amounts and types of nutrients people need to function at their best entailed studies of human metabolism and respiration. Atwater oversaw more than three hundred food consumption studies of families and institutions in seventeen states, which involved more than ten thousand men, women, and children. These included students, college athletes, the families of professional men, mechanics, farmers and laborers, in widely separated states and of diverse ethnic groups. Concerned about the nutrition of the poor and disadvantaged, Atwater supervised intake studies of black sharecroppers, Mexican families, poor whites, and inmates in state mental institutions. His observations ring true even today: The differences in diet... are influenced, to some extent, by race habits, and to a still larger extent, by the material conditions of the consumer... especially the income. Atwater left no stone unturned in gathering data on the eating habits of people worldwide. He scoured European literature, wrote to missionaries in India, and cited studies of Chinese people living on the U.S. Pacific coast, among others. In 1896, Atwater and Wesleyan graduate student A. P. Bryant published The Chemical Composition of American Food Materials, or simply, Bulletin No. 28. This bulletin became the forerunner of USDA s Agriculture Handbook, which is the dietitian s bible. [The Agriculture Handbook is no longer published. The current USDA product is the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.] It listed the minimum, maximum, and average values of the known nutrients in all American foods analyzed by July A 1906 reprinting of the bulletin, with only minor changes, stood until June of when USDA Circular No. 549 was published. Gortner noted, I m sure that [Atwater] could not have anticipated that it would not be superseded until some 40 years later. Questions: What were Wilbur Atwater s motivations as a researcher? What were some of his approaches to conducting research? What did he do with his research findings? How might you be benefiting today from the nutritional research of Wilbur Atwater and those who have followed him into the field of nutritional science? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

31 Lesson 1: , Screen 9, Embedded Resource 4 New wheat varieties Throughout its history, one of the tasks of the Department of Agriculture has been to search the world for new plant and animal types in order to increase the variety of our nation s food supply and to ensure the productivity of American agriculture. The following account is a description of how one American scientist vastly improved our country s wheat, and possibly saved the nation from famine. In 1898, experts were predicting food shortages and famine because the increasing population would overtake our ability to grow sufficient wheat by They may have been right--except 1898 was also the year U.S. Department of Agriculture special agent Mark A. Carleton was sent on his first plant exploration trip to Russia. He brought back new durum and hard red wheat varieties to grow in the United States. Five years after the introduction of that wheat from Russia, wheat production in the United States exploded from sixty thousand to twenty million bushels a year. The drought tolerance of these new varieties opened up the Great Plains and the Northwest for wheat growing, the durum wheat tasted better in pasta, and the hard red wheat made better bread. The USDA official who sent Carleton on his 1898 collecting trip later wrote, We have forgotten how poor our bread was at the time of Carleton s trip to Russia. In truth, we were eating an almost tasteless product, ignorant of the fact that most of Europe had a better flavored bread with far higher nutritive qualities than ours. More than one hundred years later, USDA plant exploring and collecting, now under the direction of the Agricultural Research Service s National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, is still a critical ingredient in maintaining and expanding agriculture s ability to feed an ever-growing population. Questions: How does the collecting and stockpiling of plants at the USDA s National Germplasm Resources Laboratory increase productivity and ensure the safety and security of our nation s food supply? In what other ways is agriculture critical to the safety and security of our nation? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: Conserving the World s Plants, Agricultural Research Magazine, U.S. Department of Agriculture [online].

32 Lesson 1: , Screen 9, Embedded Resource 5 Carver discoveries One of the most significant early agricultural researchers was George Washington Carver of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. During his first twenty years at Tuskegee, Dr. Carver scoured his imagination to produce as many products as possible to help create a demand for crops other than cotton in the south. He is most famous for his products made from peanuts, but he also studied many other crops. Examine some of the research discoveries of George Washington Carver. From peanuts: over three hundred products including: milk, cheese, cream, coffee, plastics, paper, wood stains, flour, soap, linoleum, cooking oils, cosmetics, and medicinal massaging oils. From sweet potatoes: over one hundred-eighteen products including: starch, tapioca, mock coconut, molasses, breakfast foods, feed for livestock, dyes, flour, vinegar, ink, and synthetic rubber. From soybeans: flours, coffee, cheese, sauce, bisque for ice cream, oil, chick food, soup mixtures, bran, and stock food. From waste and native materials: rugs, table runners, table mats, scarves, fuel briquettes, floor mats, synthetic marble, wallboard, wood veneers from yucca and Florida palm, vegetable dyes, etc. From cotton: paving blocks, cordage, paper, fiber for rope, and many other products. From the clays of Alabama: face powder, pigments for paints, wood stains, wallpapers, and calcimines. Questions: Which of Carver s discoveries surprise you, and why? Although these discoveries all come from agricultural products, many of them are for purposes other than agriculture. Which of the products he discovered are used for manufacturing rather than for agricultural purposes? If you were an agricultural scientist like George Washington Carver, what could you invent from the apple or some other agricultural product? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: National Agricultural Library [online].

33 Lesson 1: , Screen 9, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Boll Weevil One pest that farmers and scientists have had to fight is the boll weevil. Boll weevils, which entered the United States from Latin America in the 1890s, destroyed cotton crops. They were especially devastating in the South in the 1910s and 20s. Some farmers survived by planting different crops, but many lost their farms when their cotton crops were ruined. Watch this film to find out how farmers were taught to combat the boll weevil. Questions: Historically, what other insects or diseases have destroyed farmer livelihoods, communities, or even countries? Was it important for farmers to kill the boll weevils? What weapons did farmers have to use against boll weevils? Sources: Text adapted from Library of Congress, Today in History: December 11th (online); film Goodbye, Boll Weevil, 1921, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Lesson 1: , Screen 10, Embedded Resource 1 Reclamation projects Established in 1902, the Bureau of Reclamation is best known for the dams, powerplants, and canals it constructed in the 17 western states. These water projects led to homesteading and promoted the economic development of the West. Reclamation has constructed more than 600 dams and reservoirs including Hoover Dam on the Colorado River and Grand Coulee on the Columbia River. Visit the website Reclamation: Managing Water in the West to answer the following questions. Questions: Why has the government spent millions of dollars to move water to the arid western states? Which reclamation projects are you familiar with, and what are their purposes? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B usbr.gov/main/about

34 Lesson 1: , Screen 10, Embedded Resource 2 Plants from around the world Since its inception, the USDA and other government agency scientists have been exploring and collecting plants from across the country and around the world. Visit the U.S. National Arboretum website to read about five plant explorers and their contributions. Questions: Why have these and other scientists spent their careers exploring and collecting plants? What plants once considered exotic are now commonplace? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B usna.usda.gov/research/herbarium/explorers.html Lesson 1: , Screen 10, Embedded Resource 3 Upton Sinclair This is a page from a letter Upton Sinclair sent to President Roosevelt on March 10, In it, Sinclair suggested the placement of federal inspectors in meatpacking houses, and advised that these inspectors should be disguised as workers in order to discover the true conditions at the plants, as Sinclair did when he researched his book. Read this explanation of Sinclair s landmark book and answer the questions below. In 1905, author Upton Sinclair published the novel titled The Jungle, which took aim at the brutalization and exploitation of workers in a Chicago meatpacking house. It was the filthy conditions, described in nauseating detail- -and the threat they posed to meat consumers--that caused a public furor. Sinclair urged President Theodore Roosevelt to support the presence of federal inspectors in the meat-packing houses. Both the Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed in Questions: Why did the U.S. government take responsibility for inspecting meat products for export as well as for domestic consumption? In what other areas does the government have systems for protecting the public? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1 Source: Agency History, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service [online].

35 Lesson 1: , Screen 10, Embedded Resource 4 U.S. Forest Service To early settlers, America s virgin forests were vast and stubborn obstacles to be hacked, burned and uprooted until the land was bared for the plow. Through the years this huge supply of wood became fuel, lumber, and other products as needed by an expanding Nation. Forests were used as if the supplies were limitless. As a result of clearing land, lumbering, and uncontrollable fires, an estimated billion acres of forest was reduced by one-third between 1620 and President Theodore Roosevelt became a champion for conservation efforts within the United States during his presidency ( ). Roosevelt made conservation a major part of his domestic policy. He created sixteen national monuments, fifty-one wildlife refuges, seventeen new or combined forest reserves, and five new national parks. Questions: Why did early settlers have a carefree attitude about the use of natural resources? Why did the federal government create the U.S. Forest Service? Why is the Forest Service an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1B Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1962). Lesson 1: , Screen 10, Embedded Resource 5 Hog cholera Animal diseases can have a devastating impact on a nation s agriculture. During the early 1900s, one disease that many USDA scientists worked to eradicate was hog cholera. In 1903, Marion Dorset of the USDA s Bureau of Animal Industry discovered that hog cholera is an ultramicroscopic virus. Learn how this discovery eventually resulted in the eradication of this ruinous animal disease. Questions: Why does the USDA research animal diseases such as hog cholera? How many years did it take to eradicate this disease? What are some of the steps scientists took to do so? What diseases are scientists working to eliminate today? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/cholera.htm

36 Lesson 1: , Screen 10, Embedded Resource 6 U.S. National Arboretum In 1927, Congress established the National Arboretum as a part of the Department of Agriculture to develop, cultivate, and preserve fast-growing pest- and disease-resistant strains of pulp trees, shrubs, and woody plants. Today the arboretum, located in Washington, D.C., conducts research and educational programs and manages 446 acres of gardens that conserve and showcase plants that enhance the environment. The arboretum researchers also produce the USDA s Plant Hardiness Zone Map to help farmers and gardeners learn which crops and plants will do best in their region of the country. Question: Look at the Plant Hardiness Zone Map to find which zone you live in. Why is it important for gardeners and farmers to know this? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B usna.usda.gov/hardzone/index.html

37 Lesson 1: , Screen 11, Embedded Resource 1 Hybrid plants Developing a hybrid variety involves mixing, or crossing, the genetic materials of two or more varieties of a plant to form a new plant variety. In the first half of the 1900 s, USDA scientists began trying to create hybrid varieties of corn. In 1906 G. H. Shull, a geneticist at Cold Spring, Harbor, N.Y., started experimenting on inheritance in corn. From his experiments came important observations on the reduction in vigor with inbreeding and the restoration of vigor with crossing which provided the basis for hybrid corn. Studies of inbreeding were made at other experiment stations also. The general opinion was that hybrid corn was not feasible because of the poor vigor of the inbred parents. Open-pollinated varieties are maintained by mass selection. Windborne pollen effects fertilization, and there is no control of the male parentage. Inbred lines are developed by a combination of inbreeding and selection. Inbreeding involves the transfer of pollen from an individual plant to the silks of the same plant. This process is repeated for several generations until the strain becomes stable, or true breeding. Selection is practiced in each generation to maintain only the superior types. Cross-breeding involves the crossing of selected parents. Single crosses are produced by crossing two inbred lines. Double crosses are produced by crossing two different single crosses. When the best of the hybrids became commercially available some farmers were reluctant to adopt them, but demonstration plantings and field observations proved the worth of the hybrids. In 1935 the demand for hybrid seed in the Corn Belt exceeded production, and the hybrid seed industry developed rapidly. In addition to an increase in production, other benefits have been achieved by the use of hybrid seed. For instance, hybrids make more efficient use of applied fertilizer. Progress has been made in developing hybrids resistant to some insects and diseases, and the result is a product of higher quality and more stable yearly production. Because of their greater uniformity in maturity and resistance to lodging, the hybrids have helped make large-scale mechanization possible. Questions: How long did it take scientists to successfully create a hybrid variety of corn? Why did they want to do this? What were the results of their efforts? Why do you think some farmers were reluctant to use hybrid seeds? How do farmers and consumers view the use of genetically modified seeds today? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: ARS Timeline: 138 Years of Ag Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture, [online].

38 Lesson 1: , Screen 11, Embedded Resource 2 4-H clubs When the U.S. Congress created the Cooperative Extension Service at the USDA in 1914, it included boys and girls clubs work. The organization became known as 4-H--which stands for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. Visit the 4-H website and explore the history of the 4-H program. Questions: Why did the U.S. Congress include boys and girls clubs when it created the Cooperative Extension Service at the USDA? What was the purpose of 4-H? What impact might a youth program such as 4-H have had on the future of American agriculture? What does 4-H do today? What federal, state, and local youth programs does government support today? Who are they designed to serve? Why do various government agencies support these programs? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C national4-hheadquarters.gov/about/4h_history.htm Lesson 1: , Screen 11, Embedded Resource 3 Farmer heroes The text below is a letter from General John J. Pershing, commander of all American forces in Europe, to America s Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, thanking the nation s farmers for their support in World War I. American Expeditionary Forces Office of the Commander-in-Chief, France October 16, 1918 Honorable Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture: Dear Mr. Vrooman:- will you please convey to farmers of America our profound appreciation of their patriotic services to the country and to the Allied armies in the field. They have furnished their full quota of fighting men they have bought largely of Liberty Bonds and they have increased their production of food crops both last year and this by over a thousand million bushels above normal production. Food is of vital military necessity for us and for our Allies, and from the day of our entry into the war America s armies of food producers have rendered invaluable service to the Allied cause by supporting the soldiers at the front through their devoted and splendidly successful work in the fields and furrows at home. Very sincerely, John J. Pershing. Questions: Why did General Pershing feel so strongly about the efforts of America s farmers? Do you think General Pershing was overdoing his praise? Why or why not? How do you think farmers felt about receiving such recognition from General Pershing? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 1A Source: Francis A. March, History of the World War (Philadelphia: United Publishers of the United States and Canada, 1919).

39 Lesson 1: , Screen 11, Embedded Resource 4 AEF education After World War I, while the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was on occupation duty in Europe, this headline appeared in the military newspaper The Stars and Stripes (Paris, France) on March 21, 1919, announcing the creation of an army correspondence college with agricultural courses. Questions: Why would the army provide educational opportunities like these for American soldiers overseas? How would such opportunities benefit agriculture in the United States? What types of educational programs does the U.S. government provide today? Who could benefit from these programs? Era 6: The Development of the Industrial United States, Standard 1C Lesson 1: , Screen 11, Embedded Resource 5 Mechanized farm equipment During the early 1900s, dramatic advances in the mechanization of farm equipment were occurring. The increased availability of farm credit during World War I enabled farmers to buy more mechanized farm machinery than ever before. Explore the history of some of the early types of mechanized farm equipment at the Library of Congress website. Be sure to click on the equipment links to learn about the purpose and use of each type of equipment. Questions: What unique role did each piece of equipment play on the farm? What were some of the important advantages of using mechanized farm equipment over horse-powered equipment? What may have been some of the disadvantages? Why might it be difficult for farmers then and now to upgrade to new equipment and technology for their farms? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngp_farm.html

40 Lesson 1: , Screen 11, Embedded Resource 6 Dry farming Farming in the western territories called not only for new equipment but also for new techniques. The dry climates of the West meant that either soils had to be irrigated or dry-farming methods applied. Read this excerpt from chapter 20 of Dry-Farming: A System of Agriculture for Countries under Low Rainfall. Dry Farming in a Nutshell Locate the dry-farm in a section with an annual precipitation of more than ten inches and, if possible, with small wind movement. One man with four horses and plenty of machinery cannot handle more than from 160 to 200 acres. Farm fewer acres and farm them better. Select a clay loam soil. Other soils may be equally productive, but are cultivated properly with somewhat more difficulty. Make sure, with the help of the soil auger, that the soil is of uniform structure to a depth of at least eight feet. If streaks of loose gravel or layers of hardpan are near the surface, water may be lost to the plant roots. After the land has been cleared and broken let it lie fallow with clean cultivation, for one year. The increase in the first and later crops will pay for the waiting. Always plow the land early in the fall, unless abundant experience shows that fall plowing is an unwise practice in the locality. Always plow deeply unless the subsoil is infertile, in which case plow a little deeper each year until eight or ten inches are reached. Plow at least once for each crop. Spring plowing if practiced, should be done as early as possible in the season. Follow the plow, whether in the fall or spring, with the disk and that with the smoothing harrow, if crops are to be sown soon afterward. If the land plowed in the fall is to lie fallow for the winter, leave it in the rough condition, except in localities where there is little or no snow and the winter temperature is high. Always disk the land in early spring, to prevent evaporation. Follow the disk with the harrow. Harrow, or in some other way stir the surface of the soil after every rain. If crops are on the land, harrow as long as the plants will stand it. If hoed crops, like corn or potatoes, are grown, use the cultivator throughout the season. A deep mulch or dry soil should cover the land as far as possible throughout the summer. Immediately after harvest disk the soil thoroughly. Destroy weeds as soon as they show themselves. A weedy dry-farm is doomed to failure. Give the land an occasional rest, that is, a clean summer fallow. Under a rainfall of less than fifteen inches, the land should be summer fallowed every other year under an annual rainfall of fifteen continued on next page

41 to twenty inches, the summer fallow should occur every third or fourth year. Where the rainfall comes chiefly in the summer, the summer fallow is less important in ordinary years than where the summers are dry and the winters wet. Only an absolutely clean fallow should be permitted. The fertility of dry-farm soils must be maintained. Return the manure plow under green leguminous crops occasionally and practice rotation. On fertile soils plants mature with the least water. Sow only by the drill method. Wherever possible use fall varieties of crops. Plant deeply--three or four inches for grain. Plant early in the fall, especially if the land has been summer fallowed. Use only about one half as much seed as is recommended for humid-farming. All the ordinary crops may be grown by dry-farming. Secure seed that has been raised on dry-farms. Look out for new varieties, especially adapted for dry-farming, that may be brought in. Wheat is king in dry-farming corn a close second. Turkey wheat promises the best. Stock the dry-farm with the best modern machinery. Dry-farming is possible only because of the modern plow, the disk, the drill seeder, the harvester, the header, and the thresher. Make a home on the dry-farm. Store the flood waters in a reservoir or pump the underground waters, for irrigating the family garden. Set out trees, plant flowers, and keep some live stock. Learn to understand the reasons back of the principles of dry-farming, apply the knowledge vigorously, and the crop cannot fail. Always farm as if a year of drouth [drought] were coming. Questions: How does the technique of dry farming impact the economies of the western states? Why is this book on dry farming still used by farmers around the world today? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: John A. Widtsoe, Dry-Farming: A System of Agriculture for Countries under Low Rainfall [online].

42 Lesson 1: , Screen 12, Embedded Resource 1 Dr. Louise Stanley Dr. Louise Stanley, first chief of the Bureau of Home Economics. The USDA formed the Bureau of Home Economics in Dr. Louise Stanley served as the first chief of the bureau. She had previously served as chairman of the Home Economics Division at the University of Missouri. During her time at the Bureau of Home Economics, Dr. Stanley worked to apply scientific solutions to the day-to-day problems facing rural families. She is noted for her scientific analyses of nutrition and for developing recommendations for healthy diets. Dr. Stanley studied the nutritional needs of Americans during times of disaster, and also compiled estimates of the foods Americans needed in order to have an adequate diet. Questions: How is science used today to solve everyday problems? What aspects of your life are influenced by scientific research? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1962). Lesson 1: , Screen 12, Embedded Resource 2 County agents This chart shows the number of counties with county extension agents from 1904 to Extension was formalized in 1914, with the Smith-Lever Act. It established the partnership between the agricultural colleges and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide for cooperative agricultural extension work. At the heart of agricultural extension work, according to the Act, was: --Developing practical applications of research knowledge. --Giving instruction and practical demonstrations of existing or improved practices or technologies in agriculture. Questions: Why did the number of counties with extension agents increase so dramatically during these twenty years? What is the value of education to someone trying to support a family? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: William A. Loyd, County Agricultural Agent Work under the Smith-Lever Act, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1926).

43 Lesson 1: , Screen 12, Embedded Resource 3 Calvin Coolidge President Calvin Coolidge served from 1923 to To many Americans, Calvin Coolidge embodied the frugality they sought in their lives. The image he presented in numerous photographs and films was that of a simple man who endorsed plain living. Pictures of him as a rural Vermonter working in the fields of his family s Plymouth Notch farm emphasized traditional values and thriftiness and allayed popular anxieties about excess and indulgence. It was an image that served him well and that he actively promoted in his electoral and public-relations campaigns. In keeping with his image, Coolidge s great policy concern was economy in government. He assumed office in August 1923 upon the death of Warren G. Harding and served as president for six years. During that time he concerned himself with such measures as paying off the national debt, eliminating waste, and cutting taxes to stimulate capital investment. He also endorsed a business climate in which advertising played a major role. He generally spoke and acted in ways that supported business regardless of his private opinions, and viewed the federal government itself as a cost-conscious business organization. Questions: Why have many presidents, like Coolidge, emphasized their rural roots? Is it the responsibility of government to see that the economy prospers? Why or why not? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 1 Source: The Coolidge Presidency, Library of Congress [online]. Lesson 1: , Screen 12, Embedded Resource 4 Inventing the radio Italian Guglielmo Marconi and Canadian Reginald Fessenden are credited as two of the pioneers in radio development. After years of development and experimentation, the first public radio broadcasts took place in the 1920s. Visit the Federal Communications Commission website and answer the following questions. Questions: What impact did communications media such as radio have on farmers in rural areas? How did the media help connect rural and urban inhabitants? What communication device do you think still needs to be invented? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B fcc.gov/omd/history/radio/ideas.html

44 Lesson 1: , Screen 12, Embedded Resource 5 Labor force This chart shows the decline in the number of farm workers from 1850 to Questions: Why do you think these changes occurred? What do the changes tell us about technological advances? How do you think these changes affected American communities during this period? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: History of American Agriculture, , U.S. Department of Agriculture [online]. Lesson 1: , Screen 12, Embedded Resource 6 (CD and online Version 2.0 only) Nutrition During the 1920s, the government became concerned about the nutrition of Americans. Watch the following film to learn why the government was encouraging healthy eating. Questions: How do the nutrition problems of the 1920s compare with those of today? How does better nutrition help Americans? Era 7: The Emergence of Modern America, Standard 3B Source: Film Food Makes a Difference, 1931, courtesy of U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.