4 College Man

Chapter 4 College Man In 1884, an envelope addressed to George Washington Carver arrived from Highland College in Highland, Kansas. George ripped open the envelope. The school had accepted George as a student. He was going to college! George was thrilled. He packed his bags, said good-bye to his friends, and took the train to Highland, about seventy-five miles away. But when he arrived on campus, school

administrators told him he couldn't attend after all. He was black, and the school didn't accept nonwhites. Highland didn't know George was black when he applied by mail. George was crushed. He was twenty years old, and he had no idea what to do next. He stayed in Highland about a year, cleaning and doing laundry for the Beeler family there. When the Beelers' son moved to Ness County, Kansas, in the mid-1880s to become a homesteader, George went with him. In Ness County, George

worked for another settler named George Steeley, then claimed his own homestead. Frontier life was difficult. In western Kansas, George built a small house made of sod. Sod is made of pads of grass, its roots, and the dirt the roots are clinging to. The house was fourteen feet on each side. He kept it "neat, clean, and decorated with flowers and objects of interest," according to one neighbor. George planted vegetables and raised hens. Summers were hot, winters were cold, and water was sometimes hard to find. Communities of homesteaders were often close-knit groups regardless of color. George, one of the few black people in the area, was well-liked. He painted and sketched, played his accordion, and was helpful to neighbors. George planted trees and collected hundreds of plants. He watched carefully to see which plants grew best under what conditions.

HOMESTEADING WITH PLENTY OF LAND AVAILABLE FOR SETTLING ON THE US FRONTIER, PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN SIGNED INTO LAW THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862. IT ALLOWED SETTLERS, CALLED HOMESTEADERS, TO FILE A CLAIM FOR 160 ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND. THE HOMESTEADERS AGREED TO LIVE ON THE LAND, IMPROVE IT, AND FARM IT FOR FIVE YEARS. AT THE END OF FIVE YEARS, THEY HAD TO PAY ONLY A SMALL FEE—IT WAS $24 WHEN GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER WAS A

HOMESTEADER—TO BECOME THE LANDOWNERS. IF THEY DIDN'T WANT TO WAIT FIVE YEARS, HOMESTEADERS COULD PURCHASE THE LAND FOR $1.25 AN ACRE AFTER ONLY SIX MONTHS. MOST HOMESTEADING TOOK PLACE IN THE LAND WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. MORE THAN 1.6 MILLION PEOPLE MADE HOMESTEAD CLAIMS. IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FARMERS AND FREED SLAVES TO OWN THEIR OWN LAND AND TO BUILD BETTER LIVES FOR THEMSELVES. BUT THE HOMESTEAD ACT WAS POSSIBLE ONLY BECAUSE THE US GOVERNMENT HAD FORCED SO MANY NATIVE AMERICANS OFF THEIR LAND.

Before his five years were up, George bought the homestead with the help of a bank loan. But he couldn't make a living as a farmer. The soil was poor, and Kansas suffered a terrible drought. So in 1888, George moved to Iowa. Eventually, he turned over his homestead to the bank. In Iowa, George lived in Winterset, a mostly white town where he found a job as a cook in a hotel. In church one Sunday, a woman in the choir named Helen Milholland noticed George. She enjoyed his high-pitched singing voice. The next day, she sent her husband, Dr. John Milholland, to talk to George at the hotel and to invite him to their home.