Tuskegee’s Increased Influence on Black Farmers
Jessup Wagon, Demonstration to Black Farmers, 1910, Courtesy of The New York Public Library
Wherever the Jessup wagon traveled of campus with Tuskegee Institute instructors on board, they found a crowd of black farmers like the Fultons ready to learn how to improve their agricultural businesses. Tuskegee staff taught and worked with black farmers on terracing land, pruning orchards, gardening, sharpening saws, hanging gates, building poultry houses, poultry raising, and home dairying, butchering, smoking meats, cooking, preserving produce. When the weeklong session ended, the families returned to their homes and put what they learned into practice. From about 1892 until the Knapp Agricultural Truck replaced the wagon in 1918, the school on wheels influenced thousands of black farmers. The introduction of the Knapp truck allowed Tuskegee a greater reach and impact because it covered more territory and hauled advanced equipment such a movie projector. The mobile school continued to thrive until World War II.
