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Jesse W. Mason Sr. (1912–1990)
Jesse W. Mason Sr. was the first African American hired in Arkansas for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). His efforts to promote the welfare of poor people in rural Arkansas earned him a certificate of commendation from the president of the United States and induction into the Arkansas Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Jesse W. Mason Sr. was born in a three-room farmhouse in the Jerusalem Settlement community near Elliott (Ouachita County), outside of Camden (Ouachita County), on October 18, 1912. He was the oldest of thirteen children born into the farming family of Solomon and Lillie Mason. Mason was educated in the public schools in Camden but graduated from high school at Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1930. He spent two additional years in Little Rock, during which he served as a chauffeur for Dr. George William Stanley Ish, one of the premier Black physicians in Little Rock.
In 1932, Mason hitchhiked to the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, from which he graduated with a BS in agriculture in 1936. That summer, he attended Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical, and Normal College (AM&N) in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), and began his career as an agriculture instructor at Lincoln High School in Fayetteville (Washington County), working there until 1938. Between 1939 and 1941, he served as principal, agriculture instructor, and coach at Emanuel High School in Almyra (Arkansas County). In both Fayetteville and Almyra, Mason stressed the importance of education, morals, and character. He often reminded the students: “It’s not where you come from, but where you are going.”
Mason and his wife Levada Levon Parker Mason had five children.
In 1941, Mason resigned from public schools, where his salary was thirty-five dollars per month and was paid with vouchers. In 1941, he was hired as an assistant rural rehabilitation supervisor in Lockesburg (Sevier County) by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This was a project of the Farm Security Administration (FSA), which later became the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and then USDA Rural Development. He was the first African American in Arkansas to hold such a position.
The rest of his career was spent with the USDA. As an assistant county supervisor with the FSA in Lockesburg, he supervised the operations and management of the farms of low-income families while teaching them how to do a budget, count, read, add, and subtract.
In 1945, Mason accepted a job in Marion (Crittenden County) with the Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service as Assistant County Agent for Negro Work. This county was well known for its racist practices, and the county agent over Mason was particularly harsh. Mason and his co-workers organized fifty-three 4H Clubs and forty more Home Administration Clubs. In Crittenden County, Mason supervised the Towns Farm Project in Earle (Crittenden County) along with the farm owners. In 1963, Mason became the state program specialist for the FmHA. As a supervisor, he was responsible for all the people becoming assistant county supervisors across Arkansas. As he traveled the state, Mason spoke during school assemblies, reminding students of the importance of education.
In 1971, Mason was awarded a certificate of commendation by President Richard Nixon in recognition of his efforts to improve the lives of poor people in rural Arkansas. In 1973, he received a USDA/FHA Superior Service Award.
As a Black man who was a pioneer in his field, he endured many adversities. He did not reveal the extent to his supervisor or family until his retirement. Mason retired completely in 1987. He died on October 2, 1990.
Secretary of State Bill McCuen issued a state proclamation observing October 2, 1990, as Jesse W. Mason Day. Each February, the Black rural development workers under the USDA present Black History Observance Day. During this program each year, an award is presented in Mason’s honor to the assistant supervisor who demonstrates the highest quality of work performed for the citizens of Arkansas.
For additional information:
Hearings before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Eighty-Third Congress, Second Session. Part 4—Testimony of Members of Congress, Interested Organizations, and Individuals. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1954, pp. 356–358. Online at https://books.google.com/books?id=Xg0jmzFUAsQC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (accessed January 14, 2025).
“Jesse W. Mason, Sr.” Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame. https://www.arkansasaghalloffame.org/members/member/mason-sr-jesse-w/ (accessed January 14, 2025).
Older Americans in Rural Areas: Hearings before the Special Committee on Aging, Ninety-First Congress, First Session. Part 6—Little Rock, Arkansas, October 10, 1969. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1970, pp. 9–12. Online at https://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/publications/10101969.pdf (accessed January 14, 2025).
Michael D. Mason
Little Rock, Arkansas
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