Tillers of the Soil: Iowa’s Black Farmers

by Melanie K. Alexander

Agriculture dominates the state of Iowa. While only a few dozen African Americans continue to farm in the state, the history of Iowa’s black farmers precedes the Civil War.

Both free blacks and fugitive slaves settled in Iowa during the mid-1800s, believing they would find a more tolerant atmosphere. During that time, most African Americans emigrated from Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana. While most worked in Mississippi River towns as laborers, others settled in southern Iowa. Before and during the Civil War, African Americans who came to Iowa “often settled on the first suitable piece of land or in the first little village they came to after crossing the border.” By 1850, black farmers were established in Davis, Decatur, Henry, Johnson, Lee, Louisa, Marion, Van Buren, and Wayne counties. They lived off the land and sold or traded their surplus crops, livestock, and produce.

After the Civil War, Iowa farms entered a transitional period. Railroads connected farmers to eastern markets, city growth made more people dependent on others for food, and improvements in machinery and crop diversification created a larger surplus. Iowa farmers raised hogs and cattle and grew corn for feed – a high profit combination. Like others, black farmers focused on earning money from crops and livestock rather than producing solely to feed their families. In the 1880s, at least 300 African American families farmed in Iowa. Acreage, family size, and ownership varied. 120 acres was average, with five family members working the farm. Between 1850 and 1880, family members were the primary labor force on most farms.

While men are most often associated with farming, women and children contributed significantly to daily operations. Women were responsible for child rearing, cooking, and cleaning but also raised chickens, gardened, churned butter, and made clothing. Some responsibilities were shared by both sexes: milking cows, managing finances, and selling surplus farm goods. Some women earned extra money from selling baked goods, dressmaking, catering, hair-dressing, and doing laundry.

Laura Mae Dawson, wife of Matt C. Dawson, of Argyle, Iowa, was one African American farmer’s wife with many responsibilities. Her granddaughter, Donna Harris, recalled in an interview summers spent on the family farm in the 1950s. As the matriarch, Laura Mae had raised nine children and spent her days preparing three big meals, baking breads and pies, raising chickens, tending to her “kitchen garden” and strawberry patch, churning butter, washing clothes on a washboard, and sewing. For granddaughter Donna, Laura Mae was the center of the family, and her children and grandchildren expressed an abundance of love and respect for her.

Farm children took on responsibilities at an early age. Chores included caring for livestock, and chickens, pulling weeds, milking cows, making and selling butter, and gathering eggs, fruits, and vegetables. Boys were more likely to hunt, fish, and help with fieldwork. Girls spent more time helping their mothers with canning, sewing, and caring for younger siblings. These chores were common for children living on the Dawson farm. Donna Harris recalled watching her uncles milk cows and feed hogs while her aunt worked primarily in the house. As a young grandchild visiting the family farm, Donna did not have the same responsibilities, but learned the importance of family and the value of hard work at her grandmother’s side.

African American farm families had a multifaceted relationship with their white neighbors. On one hand, neighbors relied on each other for assistance during times of need. By proving themselves to be good, hard working citizens, many African Americans became respected members of their farm communities. Robert Boldridge, a child of an African American farmer from Algona, stated that his family was “not much different” from other farm families; neighbors knew his family as the “Boldridges” while he knew them as “neighbors.” In rural communities with a small African American population, black children usually attended school with whites but experienced some discrimination. Farm families in general shared a feeling of isolation, but African Americans experienced more obstacles within their rural communities. The social and cultural activities of African Americans and whites were separate. African Americans across Iowa experienced discrimination in public places such as restaurants, theaters, and hotels.

The church provided much-needed opportunities for rural families to socialize, but social patterns of the time led to the formation of segregated congregations. African Americans living on farms and in town often pulled together to build their own churches. Sunday church was a family outing which involved travel and an after-service picnic lunch for many. Hollice Clark, Jr. attended church in New Boston near his family’s farm and recalled that “lots of blacks” lived in the town. Donna Harris’s family, the Dawsons, also attended church in New Boston. She remembers Sundays as special days when her grandmother prepared a fried chicken dinner, often stopping for ice cream or a soda after church. Aside from the treats, Sundays were for family – a chance to see extended family who also farmed in the area.

In addition to social issues, African American and white farmers had similar experiences during periods of financial difficulty. Both had to keep up with technological developments and manage the increasing costs of purchasing equipment, fertilizer, and other chemicals. Many chose instead to leave farming altogether. By 1970, approximately 170 African American farm families remained in Iowa. Only 54 families remained in 1984.

In several instances the younger generation chose not to take over the family farm, selling off the property and equipment. In the Dawson family, all nine children eventually moved away from the farm. Two went on to college, three became government employees, and four settled in Des Moines after serving in World War II. In the mid-1950s, Donna’s grandparents sold the farm and moved to Des Moines. Both African American and white farm families have made the difficult decision to sell land that had been in the family for generations.

There are many parallels in the experiences of African Americans and whites living on farms. Most shared traditional values of hard work, family life, and dedication to the church. Men, women and children all worked to support the family farm. Many experienced feelings of social isolation and periods of financial difficulty. To keep the farm operational, they adapted to new technologies and farming techniques. African American and white farms often helped one another, but the races held separate social functions and formed their own congregations. African Americans faced discrimination and were refused at some places of business. However, back on the farm, African Americans and whites often considered one another simply “neighbors.”