James Nathan Calloway

Calloway bred a special strain of the plant suited to local conditions but returned to the United States a year later.

[3] Immediately after graduation he joined the Tuskegee Institute, which sought to educate African Americans in the Southern United States, as a mathematics lecturer.

[4] Calloway was appointed inspector of the institute's Home Farm in 1892 after George Washington Carver perceived failings in its management under Charles W. Green.

[5] Calloway became a business agent for the Institute in 1893 and in 1897 was appointed manager of its 800-acre (320 ha) Marshall Farm, its largest agricultural site.

[8] The Germans hoped to transform their newly expanded colony of Togoland into a cotton-producing agricultural state and reduce their reliance on imported American-produced cotton.

[9][7] The cotton industry was chosen since, being a high-labour and low-value crop, it would limit the wealth of the African farmers who might otherwise engage in political resistance.

[9] The Tuskegee Institute's leader Booker T. Washington, though generally opposed to colonialism, was willing to assist the German authorities in this manner to progress the welfare of the African population.

[2] Calloway and a party of three Tuskegee students left New York on November 3, 1900, and travelled by boat via Hamburg, arriving in Togoland on January 1, 1901.

This meant that Calloway had to source draft animals (cattle and horses) from French Sudan to carry the heavier loads.