21 Facts About Luther Duncan

Luther Noble Duncan was a 20th-century American educator and administrator.

Luther Duncan was a pioneer of 4-H youth development, a director of the Alabama Extension Service and president of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

Luther Duncan was especially influenced by the work of Seaman A Knapp, an early Extension educational pioneer.

Luther Duncan eventually was appointed a professor of Extension in API's school of agriculture, jointly employed by API and by the US Department of Agriculture and charged with serving as a "demonstration expert".

Luther Duncan's work involved organizing demonstrations at schools and other agriculture-related venues to encourage youth and adults alike to adopt cutting-edge agricultural practices pioneered at API and other land-grant universities throughout the nation.

Luther Duncan played a major role in educational efforts aimed at diversifying Alabama agriculture, promoting hog and poultry production in addition to raising cotton, peanuts and tomatoes.

Meanwhile, Duggar, Luther Duncan's mentor, assumed the directorship of the newly organized Alabama Extension Service.

The dual units persisted until Luther Duncan assumed leadership of the Alabama Extension Service in 1920.

Luther Duncan oversaw efforts to adopt new forms of technological delivery, including the purchase of a 1,000-watt radio station to broadcast educational information to the state's farm population.

Luther Duncan is remembered as an Extension administrator who demanded near perfection from his employees.

Nevertheless, Luther Duncan drew harsh criticism from USDA for acquiescing to the publication of a circular that instructed Alabama Extension agents about how to recruit Farm Bureau members and to collect their dues.

Luther Duncan contended that in supporting the Farm Bureau, he merely was assisting the farm organization with the best prospects for success.

Luther Duncan conceded that relations between Extension and Farm Bureau had been too close at times, such as when Extension agents collected dues on behalf of the Farm Bureau.

Luther Duncan, who had developed a strong reputation for managing a statewide organization on a lean budget, was heavily favored by the state's business and professional interests to succeed Bradford Knapp as president of API.

Luther Duncan is perhaps best remembered as a dogged fighter for what he considered to be API's fair share of state funding.

For example, Luther Duncan maintained that the prevailing interpretation of the state's Teacher-Training Equalization Fund greatly favored the University of Alabama at API's expense, even consigning API to second-class status.

O'Neal, president of the American Farm Bureau, Luther Duncan eventually secured passage of the Bankhead-Jones At, which increased funding for resident teaching, agricultural research and agricultural extension.

Luther Duncan was a strong supporter of the equalization principle that each Alabama student should receive the same level of state support regardless of the institution attended.

Luther Duncan advocated a cooperative recruitment plan and the assignment of roles to Alabama and API so that would each could "render maximum service" in the areas it was best equipped to serve.

Luther Duncan was unable to see this battle to the end, dying unexpectedly in the President's Mansion on July 26,1947.

Luther Duncan is best remembered for making the Alabama Extension Service and API driving forces on the Alabama political scene.