USDA Extension Services Systematically Exclude Black Farmers from Agricultural Assistance

The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created the Cooperative Extension Service. In Southern states, the service was administered through racially segregated networks: white county agents served white farmers with credit, improved seeds, and techniques, while Black farmers were assigned separate, underfunded 'Negro agents.' Black farmers were systematically denied access to USDA crop loans, price supports, and technical assistance available to white farmers.