George Ruffin Bridgeforth, born October 5, 1873, in Athens, Alabama, and died there January 30, 1955, was an American farmer and educator who became the first African American to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst, then Massachusetts Agricultural College, earning his degree in 1901. He subsequently taught agriculture and managed agricultural programs at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and led the Kansas Industrial and Educational Institute in Topeka. He founded a cooperative Black farming community in Alabama, and his descendants operate what is described as the state's largest Black-owned farm, spanning more than ten thousand acres across multiple generations.
Facts
Defining ContributionCo-founded the Southern Small Farm Land Company in 1910, the basis for Beulahland, a cooperative Black farming community in northern Alabama 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. George Ruffin Bridgeforth, Wikipedia
Early life and education, first paragraph
on October 5, 1873. He was the eldest of nine children born to Jennie and George Bridgeforth Sr., emancipated African American farmers who purchased land in northern Alabama by 1877.
Personal life, second paragraph
Bridgeforth died on January 30, 1955, at the age of 81 in Limestone County, Alabama.
Lead paragraph, first sentence
was an American farmer and educator.
Career, final paragraph
In 1910, he co-founded the Southern Small Farm Land Company, which formed the basis for Beulahland, a cooperative Black farming community in northern Alabama.
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