The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-05-06
AFRO-AMER|CAN CULL|NCS

For Is years o T. Jackson was the
only Negro farmer near Boulder. Colo.
He was industrious and was well liked
by his white neighbors, but In the
planting and harvest times when there
was a dearth of farmhands they could
generally outbid him in the labor mar
ket, leaving him without assistance at
sible to keep colored farm hands for
any length of time because, with no
other members of their race lear at
hand, they found il a lonely life.
In 1906 Jackson began to think about
the situation and decided that what
raj needed was a community of col
ored people which would be large
enough to be self-suficient. Having
come to a decision he started to work
out his plans. Since then there has
grown up on former government land
in Weld county, Colo, a settlement of
$50 Negro men and women fairly start
ed toward independence. The name
Of the settlement is D~earield, and the
force behind 1t is the Dearield Devel-
oping company, organized on a CO.
operative basis and preaching self
help.
The story of the struggles which the
founder and the small group of pio-
neers which he gathered around him
had, and of the momentum which the
movement gained as it became sue
cessful, is told by w. J. Harsha in an
interview with Jackson in the South
ern Workman.
Efforts were first made to obtain
suitable land from the state land of.
flee, but none was found available.
Then attention was directed to the
federal authorities and locations were
offered in three different counties In
Colorado, Jackson and the two or
three men whom he had associated
with him finally selected the Weld
county site because of its fertility,
availability of water, and good rail-
road connections with the large mar
kets of Denver only 70 miles away.
The Jackson family was the first to
settle, in May, 1910, and a home was
established a year later. OF the first
settlers Mr.. jackson says:
Il met most of the first cettlers in
a casual way-in restaurants and bar
Der shops and on street rners
was invited to speak at our Denver
church on the Importance to our
people of getting land before it is
too late; after the meeting people
crowded around me asking for par
ticulars. After several men had filed
they sent their friends to me. Woman
administrators, spinsters, desert
ed wives-were particularly active.
We publish a little paper and mention
in 1t all filings made, and this at.
tracted attention. | am now receiv-
ing lots of mail and many callers ask
ing for homes.
THE Dearfield settlers were as poor
as people could be when they took up
homesteads. Their advancement has
been something wonderful for our
people, who know nothing of pioneer
life. Some who filed on their claims
had not enough money to ship their
household goods and pay all their rail-
road fare. They paid their fare as far
as they could and walked the balance
of the way to Dearfield. Soon after
arriving in Dearfield they secured
work with the wealthy white farmers
in the district and began to build
houses on their claims. Some lived
in tents, others in dugouts, and some
in natural caves in hillsides.
THE first year there were only
seven families in the settlement, and
we had only three teams. We man
aged to get in some garden corn, mel.
ons, pumpkins, squash, Mexican