This Week in Missouri History
279
7. What was his name?
A. James B. Eads.
[References: Florence Dorsey, Road to the Sea (New York, 1947); Allen Johnson
and Dumas Malone, editors, Dictionary of American Biography (New York, 1930),
V, 587-89; Floyd C. Shoemaker editor, Missouri, Day by Day (Jefferson City, 1942),
I, 100-01, 355-56.]
A MISSOURIAN ROSE FROM SLAVE CABIN TO WORLD ACCLAIM
Released February 11, 195k
Born of slave parents, this great Missourian rose to be honored
with the highest awards in the world of science. Do you know his
name?
1. Where was he born?
A. He was born in a rude
slave cabin on the farm of
Moses Carver near Diamond,
Missouri, about 1864. When
he was six months old, night
raiders kidnapped him and
his mother and he was ransomed by Carver for a horse.
He nearly died of exposure
and remained a frail and
sickly child who spent much
of his time wandering among
the Ozark hills or working
with the plants in his garden.
2. Was he educated? ffis Scientific Studies of Plants
A. Yes, entirely through his Helped Make a New Farm Economy
' ■; ° for the South
own efforts. I he boy had
no permanent home as he
grew up, working at odd jobs in south Missouri and Kansas
until he managed to graduate from high school—a tremendous
accomplishment for a Negro in Reconstruction days. But he
had a burning desire for more learning and determined to go to
college. He enrolled in a small Iowa school, but was refused
admission when he arrived because of his race. Later he attended Simpson College and was graduated from Iowa State
College with B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agriculture.
