Learning Objectives:

1. To understand the key historical facts about the NFA.

The Basics:

Read and Study this material if your experience with FFA is limited.

• The New Farmers of America was an organization of African American youth enrolled in vocational agriculture/ agricultural education in the early to mid-20th century. The are no basic materials this week.

The Main Lesson:

Read these articles

• The study guide for this week is located here.
• Read about the birth and development of the New Farmers of America in this excerpt from The FFA at 50.
• Who was HO Sargent and why should I care?
• Booker T. Washington was as revered by NFA members as George Washington was revered by FFA members. Who was Booker T. Washington?
• Read the section about the NFA in the FFA chapter of Foundations of Agricultural Education textbook.
• Read Talbert and Wakefield's article entitled, A Historical Narrative on the Impact of the New Farmers of America (NFA) on Selected Past Members in the proceedings of the 2001 National Agricultural Education Research Conference.
• Remembering the Lost Tradition of Quartet Contests is a National Public Radio segment by Bruce Nemerov that honors the great quartet contests in the NFA. Listen to this very, very rare recording.

For Further Study:

This reading goes above and beyond the course requirements.

• If you would like to know about vocational agriculture for African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century, read Dr. Croom's article, Booker T. Washington and Industrial Education for African Americans at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School. This research paper was presented at the 2005 Career and Technical Education Research Conference in Kansas City, Missouri (which is, ironically, the birthplace of the FFA).

Weekly Assignment

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Instructor's Notes for the Week