Dorothy McCargo Freeman inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame

As a child, Dorothy McCargo Freeman pulled tobacco leaves on a hot Southside Virginia farm to make money to buy supplies for 4-H camp.

Not for herself, though. She worked hard so that her younger sister could go to 4-H camp at Smith Mountain Lake.

“My siblings and I worked to save money to make sure that she had the right things and the right clothes to go to camp,” Freeman said, remembering her days growing up in the Halifax County community of Scottsburg.

Freeman never went to 4-H camp, and she never joined a 4-H club as a kid — which is ironic, considering that she would make 4-H her life’s work for more than 40 years. That sense of sacrifice and service that she displayed when she picked tobacco so that her sister could go to camp made her an inspiring 4-H leader in Virginia and Minnesota, where she developed innovative programs that brought an array of young people into 4-H, from Black children in urban areas of eastern Virginia to the children of white Minnesota farmers.

Freeman, who worked as a Virginia Cooperative Extension specialist, was honored for her lifetime achievements and contributions to 4-H in October, when she was inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Boise, Idaho.

Her commitment to introducing 4-H to populations that otherwise might never have heard of the program was a recurring theme during her induction.

“Her deep understanding of the program, commitment to innovation, and dedication to reaching diverse audiences have significantly expanded the impact of 4-H across Minnesota, Virginia, and the entire nation,” Pamela Van Horn, National 4-H Hall of Fame chair, wrote in a news release announcing Freeman’s induction.

Freeman spent nearly 20 years of her hall of fame career at Virginia Tech, where she was an Extension specialist who oversaw programs geared for at-risk youths, workforce training, reducing substance abuse in rural communities, funding urban programs, and other projects. Before that, she was an Extension agent in Portsmouth and Chesapeake, a program leader in the Southeast, Northern, and Eastern districts of Virginia, and a district director in the Central and Eastern districts.

After earning a doctorate in human development and retiring from Virginia Tech in 2004, Freeman embarked upon a rewarding late-career post at the University of Minnesota, where she was an assistant Extension director, the state 4-H leader and, eventually, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion with the National 4-H Council.

A religious woman, Freeman credits her faith as a guiding force in her life’s work of service.

“I'm led by my spirituality, by my Christianity, and it has been my pleasure to serve and to give back,” Freeman said. “I believe that I've been given the gift of being a servant leader. I thrive in that. I thrive in watching others thrive.”

4-H traces its roots back to 1902 as a rural-based program with a heavy focus on agricultural projects. Extension offices, established in 1914 through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and land-grant universities like Virginia Tech, play a vital role in overseeing 4-H programs.

From its rural beginnings, 4-H has grown to become a 21st century organization that teaches not only modern agriculture methods, but also leadership skills and STEM lessons, while also instructing young people how to become good citizens by practicing civic engagement.

Freeman got involved with 4-H after graduating from Norfolk State University in 1975 with a home economics degree and plans of becoming a teacher. That next year, after a stint as a student teacher and a brief job working in retail, she learned from a sorority sister about an opening in the new Extension office in Portsmouth. She started as a part-time worker and eventually became an Extension agent, a job that allowed her to develop her own programming aimed specifically at minority children who knew nothing of 4-H.

“I liked the fact that I could create my own chaos,” she said. “There was not anybody out there to tell me what to do or what not to do. I found this to be true my whole professional career.”

The programs she established in Portsmouth and Chesapeake were not fundamentally different from those that existed in rural counties, she said. The clubs participated in food and nutrition, clothing, dog training, and share-the-fun talent programs. In Chesapeake, she founded Five Seasons Alive, a camping program for young people with terminal illnesses.

“This understanding that 4-H works for all youth — urban, rural, and suburban — opened my mind to advocate on behalf of urban youth and the value 4-H would bring to their communities,” she said.

Freeman earned enough awards and honors to fill a hall of fame plaque. She received the Ruby Distinguished Service Award from Epsilon Sigma Phi, one of the most prestigious honors in the Extension system. She served as president of the National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4-HYDP), co-chaired the 2002 NAE4-HA National Conference, and chaired the Joint Council of Extension Professionals. In 1991, she founded Children, Youth, and Families at Risk, which supports families who often don’t have basic needs and is funded today by the USDA and Extension offices across the country.

She has received Distinguished Service Awards from NAE4-HYDP and Epsilon Sigma Phi; the USDA Twenty Year Service Award; programming awards for Americanism, citizenship, and reaching at-risk youth; and she participated in a landmark African/African-American Summit in Côte d'Ivoire in 1991, a meeting that focused on youth development in the global community.

“Dr. Dorothy McCargo Freeman has had a profound personal impact on my growth and development, both as a youth and as a professional,” said Jeremy Johnson, Virginia Cooperative Extension associate director and state 4-H leader. 

Johnson’s introduction to 4-H came at age 9 when he was a camper at Airfield 4-H Educational Center in Wakefield, a 4-H center Freeman helped establish.

“As state 4-H leader, Dorothy has served as a mentor and coach, supporting me along the way,” Johnson said. “Dorothy has high expectations, and she will not settle for anything less than excellence, and she makes every decision to ensure that all youth have a brighter future through 4-H.”

In Minnesota, she led a large staff that revamped the 4-H agricultural program and embraced new technologies to find new solutions to farming problems. Participants in the Minnesota 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge used data-driven methods to suggest changes to agricultural practices. Students made YouTube videos that highlighted their innovative projects, which included protecting honeybees, improving plowing methods to save topsoil, and designing high-tech ear tags for cattle that connect to smartphone apps.

Now retired in Chesapeake, Freeman is president of the board of directors of Airfield 4-H Educational Center.

The National 4-H Hall of Fame was established in 2002 as part of the organization’s centennial. A list of past recipients and their biographies can be found at http://www.4-h-hof.com.

Written by Ralph Berrier Jr.