Mr. John William Mitchell
John William Mitchell (1885 – 1955) was a 1909 graduate of the Agricultural and Mechanical College for The Colored Race (now North Carolina A&T) who became a pioneering leader in the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, and later for the United States Department of Agriculture.
At one time he was seen as the nation’s most significant person of color in agriculture, second only to George Washington Carver.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in agriculture, Mitchell was an assistant principal at the State Colored Normal School (now Fayetteville State University) and a principal for a Rosenwald School in Aberdeen, North Carolina.
He became a N.C. extension agent in 1917 for Bladen, Columbus and Pasquotank counties to improve the living conditions of farm families by teaching best agricultural practices. This required commuting from county to county through dirt roads, by horse or bicycle, sometimes spending nights with farm families.
In 1924, he was appointed to the new service district office on A&T’s campus where he would direct the extension activities for 15 counties. Among his accomplishments in this role, he built one of the largest Negro 4-H Clubs for youth in the nation. He became the state agent in charge of extension work for African Americans in N.C. in 1940.
At N.C. A&T, he worked with many of the south’s greatest men and women of agriculture and vocational education like Robert E. Jones (R. E. Jones Drive), John D. Wray, Dazelle Foster Lowe, S. B. Simmons, and Dean John McLaughlin. A&T was also a family affair for the Mitchell clan. At least two of his children, Rivera and Talmadge attended A&T. His wife Lena Mae was a student in the A&T extension’s Greensboro Center.
Mitchell was well known for his multiple roles as chair, director, or secretary for national and regional agricultural conferences. He was also known for his financial and innovative leadership in the lives of the state’s African American farmers, and academic and community efforts between the races in the North Carolina Commission on Inter-Racial Cooperation.
In 1943, Mitchell left A&T when he became a field agent for the United States Extension Service to represent 17 Southeastern states.
Livingstone College awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities in 1950 for his work in improving the rural life of farmers in the South. In 1953, USDA Secretary Ezra Taft Benson appointed him to the specially created post of National Extension Leader on the Division of the Department of Cooperative Extension Work.
This was the highest rank ever given to a person of color within the national extension organization.
Mitchell was still serving in the USDA when he passed away on January 8, 1955, at the age of 69. He is still recognized as one of A&T’s most outstanding agriculture alumnus and was inducted into the N.C. A&T School of Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1996.
John W. Mitchell Drive on A&T’s Campus was dedicated in the 1975-76 academic year. In addition, during the 2014 centennial celebration for the cooperative extension he was remembered as one of five key pioneers of the N.C. A&T Cooperative Extension program.
Source: A&T Alumni https://relations.ncat.edu/.../2018/aug31/blufordaug.html
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Life of An Extension Agent : John W. Mitchell
By: James Stewart - NCSU EDU Library - December 11, 2015
John W. Mitchell* (1886-1955) was a pioneering African American extension agent and educator who became one of the most well known Cooperative Extension agents in the nation.
A native of Morehead City, North Carolina, Mitchell graduated from the State Colored Normal School (now Fayetteville State University), earned a B.S. in agriculture from the Agricultural and Mechanical College for The Colored Race (now North Carolina A&T State University) in 1908 and studied sociology in graduate school at Indiana Central University in Indianapolis (now the University of Indianapolis).
After serving as an assistant and lead principal at two high schools, he became an extension agent in 1917.
At first he served the North Carolina counties of Bladen, Columbus and Pasquotank, commuting from county to county by horse or bicycle.
In 1922 Mitchell was appointed to the newly created extension service district office at the A&T campus in Greensboro where he would direct the extension activities for 15 counties.
During this time he is said to have built one of the largest Negro 4-H Clubs in the nation.
In 1940, following the death of C. R. Hudson, who was responsible for extension and 4-H club work for the entire state, Mitchell became the “State Agent for Negro Work” or the state extension agent for African Americans.
In the A&T position John W. Mitchell was well known for his financial and innovative leadership in the lives of the state's African American farmers.
He was also active in academic and community efforts between Whites and Blacks. He participated in the North Carolina Commission on Inter-Racial Cooperation to advocate for state and national anti-lynching laws, and he spoke at churches for Race Relation Sunday services.
In 1943 Mitchell moved to Virginia after he was appointed the field agent for the United States Extension Service to represent 17 southeastern states or the “Upper South’s Field Agent in Negro Extension Work."
His office was based at the Hampton Institute in Virginia.
During the Second World War and postwar era, 4-H membership soared, and Mitchell served as Director of Regional 4-H Club camps for Negro boys and girls in addition to multiple roles as chair director or secretary for national and regional agricultural conferences.
By 1950 Mitchell was renowned as one of the top agricultural experts in the nation. That same year Livingston College awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities for his work in improving the rural life of farmers in the South.
Three years later, United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson appointed him to the specially created post of National Extension Leader on the staff of the Division of the Department of Cooperative Extension Work, the highest rank ever given up to that time to a person of color within the national extension organization. Mitchell was still serving in this position when on he passed away in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 7, 1955, at the age of 69.
In his memory the J. W. Mitchell 4-H Camp was dedicated in June 1956 in Onslow County, North Carolina, and a building was named for him at Fayetteville State University in 1955.
Mitchell’s legacy has continued for decades. He was inducted into the N. C. A&T School of Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1996. At a 2014 centennial celebration he was remembered as one of five key pioneers of the A&T Cooperative Extension program.
*The extension agent John W. Mitchell should not be confused with Dr. John W. Mitchell (b. 1905), the principal physiologist of the USDA Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering in Beltsville, Maryland.
Bibliography:
Research for this blog post yielded scores of newspaper and peer-reviewed journal articles, history books, and archival finding aids on the life and work of John W. Mitchell. His tasks, accomplishments and honors are too numerous to list here.
Clark, J. W. (1984). Clover all over: North Carolina 4-H in action. Raleigh: NCSU, 4-H & Youth. Also available online:
Clark, J. W. (2011). Clover all over: North Carolina's first 4-H century, 1909-2009 . Raleigh, N.C: Published by the North Carolina 4-H Development Fund, in cooperation with Ivy House Pub. Group.
Cooperative Extension commemorates 100th anniversary of landmark legislation. (2014, October 1). On The Move (newsletter), 2-2.
Hall of Fame Inductions Planned. (1996, March 26). Greensboro News and Record . Retrieved October 21, 2105.
Race Farmers Will Fare Well In 1950, Experts Say . (1950, January 14). Philadelphia Inquirer . Retrieved October 21, 2015.
Untitled article. (1950, June 24). The Carolina Times. p. 4. Retrieved December 10, 2015
Urges State Anti-lynch Law. (1937, May 5). Greensboro Record (Greensboro News and Record), p. 7. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
Images and 2nd narrative source: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/.../life-of-an-extension-agent...)%2C%20earned%20a%20B.S.