4-h club

The four H’s of the 4-H youth clubs that began in the United States in the early twentieth century represent head, heart, hands, and health. 4-H is usually considered to have originated with a club started by A. B. Graham in Clark County, Ohio, in 1902. The term 4-H was coined by Gertrude Warren, an extension agent, and the various agricultural clubs scattered around the United States had come to be known as 4-H clubs by 1912. 4-H was officially established through the joint efforts of individuals in several states working with experts at land-grant colleges and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In order to unify club activities throughout the United States, the Cooperative Extension Service created the Rural Youth Division in 1914. In the twenty-first century, 4-H clubs have also been organized around the world in Canada, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia under the auspices of the USDA.

Brief History

At the turn of the twentieth century, the noted horticulturalist Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954) of Cornell University began publishing a series of nature study leaflets that detailed the lack of agricultural and nature education in rural schools. He also established nature clubs for youths. The idea of introducing agriculture and nature into rural schools quickly caught on, and schools and communities around the country began creating corn clubs, hog clubs, canning clubs, gardening clubs, and tomato clubs. The clubs were initially under the supervision of local school superintendents. Later, clubs worked directly with USDA agricultural agents. These extension agents were based at land-grant universities across the United States and were charged with introducing improved farming and homemaking methods to rural communities. The basic concept of these early clubs, which served as forerunners to 4-H clubs, was to teach young people by letting them engage in real-life activities. Parents and community leaders also lauded the fact that the clubs promoted good citizenship. In addition to growing and processing food, club members participated in demonstrations and field trips and held exhibitions to show off what they had learned. Club and community leaders convinced local businesses to donate prizes for contests, providing families with much needed farm equipment.

Seaman A. Knapp (1833–1911) is generally recognized as the founder of extension services in the United States. In 1903, he oversaw the establishment of Boys and Girls Demonstration Clubs, and the techniques used in the demonstration clubs were subsequently adopted by 4-H clubs. O. B. Martin is credited with introducing 4-H and the demonstration technique in the South. Jessie Field Shambaugh (1881–1971) is considered the "mother of 4-H" because of her efforts to expand the clubs to both boys and girls. She also is credited, along with O. H. Benson, with the design of the familiar four leaf clover emblem.

Other pioneers in the history of the 4-H movement included O. J. Kernn and W. B. Otwell (Illinois), J. F. Haines (Indiana), E. C. Bishop (Nebraska), Oscar B. Martin (Mississippi), and Ella G. Agnew (Virginia). Agnew was the first woman hired by the USDA for cooperative demonstration work. Thomas M. Campbell (1883–1956), a protégé of George Washington Carver and a student of Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute, worked with African American youth in his role as an extension agent.

Overview

In 1912, there were about 23,000 4-H clubs in operation in the United States. Within two years, 4-H clubs had been established in all states. By the 1930s, the number of 4-H participants nationwide had risen to 800,000 individuals between the ages of five and nineteen. By that time, clubs had begun focusing more on the development of individuals within clubs than on the products they produced. Although the clubs were supervised by agricultural agents and adult volunteers, each club elected its own officers and directed its own activities, which included fundraising, membership drives, family nights, food drives, beautification and clean-up projects, clothing and toy drives, and recycling campaigns. Out of one hundred available projects, each member was required to participate in at least one.

In 1948, the first exchange program between American and European 4-H club members took place through the International Farm Youth Exchange with funding from the newly established National 4-H Foundation. The program grew to include participants from more than eighty countries. In the United States, clubs were formed for African American children, though funding and support lagged behind clubs exclusively for White children. Despite legal decisions regarding desegregation of schools and other public facilities, 4-H clubs did not achieve nationwide desegregation until the late 1960s. In 1976, the National 4-H Foundation merged with the Chicago-based 4-H Service Committee to form the National 4-H Council.

Membership in 4-H clubs had begun to plunge by the mid-twentieth century as the number of family-owned farms continued to decline. 4-H responded by including hobby-related activities and refocused its mission on training leaders and developing community projects. Over time, 4-H project areas continued to expand, including such fields as aviation and rocketry, animal science, citizenship, clothing and textiles, computers, electrical environmental studies, fishing, food and nutrition, forestry, graphic arts, health and physical fitness, leather craft, photography, science and technology, veterinary science, and wildlife.

The positive impact of 4-H clubs on young people was studied by researchers from Tufts University’s Institute for Applied Research over a period of years, beginning in 2002. Researchers learned that 4-H members were more likely than others to be active contributors to their schools and communities, to articulate goals more clearly, and to achieve high academic performance. Members were twice as likely as nonmembers to join programs outside the classroom that dealt with science, engineering, or computer technology. Contemporary 4-H members are involved in trying to solve twenty-first century problems such as global food security, climate change and sustainable energy, childhood obesity, and food safety.

Following the original concept that students learn by doing and applying, 4-H clubs continue to operate on the five-step principles: experiencing activities through hands-on action; sharing what is learned with others; processing skills through discussion, analysis, and reflection; generalizing information by relating it to real-life experiences; and applying knowledge gained to various situations.

In the twenty-first century, 4-H clubs became a worldwide phenomenon. In 2024, seven million children and youth in more than eighty countries belonged to 4-H clubs. The organization partners with DuPont, a major supplier of high-yielding seeds, to teach young people in countries such as Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa how to farm in order to receive the greatest benefits. 4-H clubs have also proved to be a viable tool in helping to rebuild postwar Iraq by teaching farming techniques to thousands of Iraqi youth. 4-H clubs continue to operate under the jurisdiction of the USDA. It is the only youth organization that is federally mandated to conduct positive youth development programs, and it is one of the few to receive federal funding.

Bibliography

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