Everyone in Extension is familiar with the 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act that established land-grant institutions to educate students in agriculture, among other areas of study. The goal of establishing these institutions was to develop practical solutions to problems, as the approach to university level education in America continued to evolve from a narrow liberal arts education towards the diverse fields available today. At the time, these institutions were for white male students. It wasn’t until 1882 that the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, now called Virginia State University (VSU), was founded for the purpose of providing higher education opportunities for African Americans.

Only 37 years after a law established it was illegal to educate enslaved people or free African Americans, the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, or the Hampton Institute as it was later called, was founded in 1868 to educate African American students. This school would receive some funding from the Morrill Land Grant Act a few years later. In those days, a “normal school” was a teacher training school. The Hampton Institute would educate prominent leaders like Booker T. Washington, and a pair of lesser-known educators who would shape the Extension work of VSU.

In 1902, a woman named Lizzie A. Jenkins, and a man named John Baptist Pierce graduated from the Hampton Institute. Jenkins went on to teach in African American schools, and was the first Extension Agent in Virginia dedicated to helping African-American families with her canning, sewing, gardening, cooking, and poultry outreach work. In 1906, Pierce was appointed by Hampton Institute leadership as the first African American farm demonstration agent in Virginia.

Over time, Pierce became the district agent for field demonstration work in not just Virginia, but the Carolinas, as well. In southeast Virginia, many African American families lived in rural areas, and agriculture was a driving force for the families year-round. Children would attend school in September only to go back home and help with the harvest. In response to the needs of families in southeast Virginia, Pierce developed the “Live-at-Home and Community Improvement Program.”

Pierce’s program taught people how to be successful, self-sustaining farmers. With education around increasing yields, Pierce’s goal was that even the lowest income farmer could live at home and educate their children. For communities who had been excluded from educational opportunities for generations, this program was a chance to raise entire families and their standards of living.

Pierce served as the U.S. Department of Agriculture district agent for 35 years in Virginia and the Carolinas. Today, VSU’s Extension efforts continue the work of early Extension pioneers like Pierce and Jenkins. Black growers and farmers in southeast Virginia remain the focus of VSU’s Extension programming, as today’s Extension researchers and agents dedicate themselves to improving the lives and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities in the region.

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