Wilson County Negro Extension Agent Cecil A. Spellman did not stint. His two-part 1939 Annual Narrative Report is a 146-page treasure chest whose nuggets create a finely textured view of rural African-American life just before World War II — home demonstration, community entertainment, school improvement, test farms, engineering activities, tobacco work, gardening, corn-growing, meat-cutting, 4-H clubs, camp, spelling matches, Negro Health Week, projects, spotlights on people, houses, and schools — including photographs — and more.
There’s nothing to do but present Spellman’s report in totality, serialized.
The 66 pages of Section 1 are devoted to general and adult extension work. We meet Outstanding Man of the Year, Henry Armstrong of Elm City, and Outstanding Woman of the Year, Mrs. Charles Ruffin [Henrietta Ruffin] of the Saratoga side of the Fountain area.
Spellman praised the location of the county extension office at 559 1/2 East Nash Street, Camillus L. Darden‘s commercial building. He then described the equipment and furnishings supplied by the county (plus a few things he brought in.)
Spellman set out the organization of the extension agency and identified the eight-member County Advisory Committee as Seth T. Shaw, Thomas Hilliard, Robert L. Mitchell, Earnest A. Jones, Charlie Ruffin, Chester Woodard, John H. Clay, and Isaac Renfrow.
Spellman briefly mentioned the 4-H Club, which would be covered in detail in Section II, noting that its council met at Darden High School’s auditorium. He also lauded the principals of the county schools that hosted 4-H Clubs “as a very helpful body in the promotion of junior work in the county.”
Spellman then praised the agent training program he had attended at Hampton Institute [now Hampton University] in July.
North Carolina County Agent Annual Narrative Report, Wilson County, N.C., North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, UA102.002, Special Collections Research Center at N.C. State University.
