Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2019/Fall/Section 1/Isaiah H. Hunter

Isaiah H Hunter

Isaiah Hunter ( 4 January 1868 - sometime after 1939) - was a father, preacher, farmer, factory worker, contractor, and mail carrier that resided in Athens,Georgia. He was interviewed in 1939 by Grace McCune for the Federal Writers Project papers. He was a prominent member of his community that he lived in. He worked a variety of jobs as a young man to provide for his new family.

farmer returning home after buying supplies

Biography

Early Life

Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2019/Fall/Section 1/Isaiah H. Hunter
Born	4 January 1868 White Hall, Georgia
Education	Old knox institute
Occupation	tentant farmer, preacher, contractor, mail weigher, farm hand
Spouse(s)	Mary A. Hawkins m(1884/86)
Children	Carrie G Hunter, Mary Ann Hunter, Susie Hunter,

Isaiah Hunter was born on January 4th 1868 in white hall, Georgia. He grew up with three other siblings and a widowed mother. His mother sent him to the Old Knox Institute, a private elementary and secondary school for African-Americans in Athens ,Georgia for only three months. Then he entered the workforce as a farm hand.After being a farm hand for three years before hunter decided to work at the implement company, making 6 dollars a month. He became a contractor for several years. He earned 75 cents a day, an increase from his previous jobs but  returned back to doing farm work in order to escape the costs of living as a contractor. In 1889 he started working for a machine shop In Rome, Georgia during the time period known as the second industrial revolution. He worked as the only colored man in a shop of 75 people. He left that job to pursue farming once more. He began farming for himself. In 1897 he started carrying rural mail alone a 25 mile route. Hunter was fired after 15 years, 6 months and 2 days due to job competition tension between white and blacks. Hunter resumed farming after acquiring a piece of property. Later in a bad deal, he lost over 10,000 dollars. He had put 6,000 dollars into a six horse farm but then the boll weevil  completely destroyed his farm.So he left family and went to Indianapolis, India to work and sent money home.Hunter married Mary A Hawkins on December 25 1886. They had 6 children. Four girls and two boys. Hunter made sure that the girls were able to attend and complete college. His sons didn’t graduate high school but one went right into the meat market industry. He died packing meat in one of the biggest packing houses. Hunter became a christian while working in Rome, Georgia. Two years after being baptized, he became a preacher. Later, Hunter opened up a grocery store on Broad street. He kept his farm until he passed.

Social Context

second industrial revolution

The second industrial revolution was during the late 19th century around 1870 and early 20th century. There were great advancements in manufacturing and production technology. Systems such as telegraph, railroad networks, gas and water supply, and sewage systems became widespread. This allowed greater movement of people and ideas. Previously distant communities were able be linked. In fact, it's credited However, it was mostly characterized by Large scale iron and steel production and railroads. During the last 20 years of this revolution, the United States had its highest economic growth. Yet, the world's economy still experienced depression in 1873 and 1897. It was also this time period where we saw large corporations dominating industries such as steel, oil, sugar, meatpacking and agriculture machinery. There was a great disparity between unemployment rates seen in the northern part of the U.S versus the south. However, North Carolina and Georgia had the best rates of employment. 1. By 1913, the U.S produced ⅓ of the world’s industrial output. Between 1870 and 1920, almost 11 million people moved to the city from the rural areas. The increased population in the cities led to unsanitary conditions. Dangerous conditions in factories often led to injuries or deaths. Many factory owners were more concerned with profit than worker safety.  This transition period was horrible for children. Younger children were increasingly seen in factories, working long hours everyday to make a living. America saw labor conflict during this time as well. To combat work accidents and the terrible working conditions , workers formed unions to fight for higher wages, better hours and safer conditions.There were around 500 strikes a year.  The government was also more involved in the social and economic parts of society. They offered land and subsidies for railroads, tariff protection for manufactures and court orders to prevent strikes. State militia and federal lawmen were around to break strikes and shoot strikers.

Boll Weevil

The Boll weevil, measures from 3 to 8 millimeters, greatly affected cotton production on farms in the south. The pest, introduced from Mexico, was the reason many farmers moved to the north.  The boll weevil is a reddish or grayish brown . The females deposit 100-300 eggs in the cotton buds. The larvae live entirely in the cotton bolls. This causes the seed and surrounding cotton fibers to be ruined and unfitting for harvest. Since the larvae spend their development period inside the cotton bolls, insecticides during that time period was not effective. In 1972 it was estimated that ⅓ of all pesticides in the U.S were applied to cotton to prevent boll weevil. Broad spectrum insecticides were used at first but that often caused other insect pest outbreaks. The term “pesticide treadmill” was the term used to define this period. It's described the cycle of creating pesticides to fight and over applying it, non-targeted predators increased and then new pesticides were developed and over applied. This pesticide treadmill harmed the environment and did not help recuperate crop loss. Even when 90% of the boll weevil in a location were treated , the remaining population after four generations could reinvest the surrounding areas. The can go through at least 10 generations a year. In fact the boll weevil song goes “The first time I saw Boll Weevil,He was sitting on a cotton square.The next time I saw Boll Weevil,He had his whole family there” .It wasn’t until the start of long eradication campaign in 1978, that progress was starting to be seen.The cotton industry remained unprofitable, the pests reduced cotton acreage from 5.2 million acres in 1914 to 115,000 in 1983. It was introduced to Georgia in 1915. By the end, it left the soil depleted and prone to erosion. This taught farmers to realize the value of rotating crops instead depending on cotton.