Carver’s Place in the Sun
In 1890 or thereabouts, Carver met the (white) Milhol- land family at the Methodist Church where he attended services. When Mrs. Milholland heard George sing, she wanted to know him better. (Carver had a beautiful tenor voice, and his “I want to know” spirit had driven him to learn to use it and to play a little music.) The family invited George into their home, and he and Mrs. Milhol- land discovered they had much in common. Mrs. Milholland had a greenhouse and, like Carver, a passion for gardening. She was also an amateur painter. When George saw the sorry condition of her brushes and palette, he immediately began to set them right. Seeing that he was expert with the tools, Mrs. Milhol- land asked if he had advice for the painting she had underway. From that point forward, Carver gave her painting instruction in exchange for piano lessons. Over time Carver
became great friends with the Milhollands, and their home was often his as well. As they got to know Carver better, the Milhol- lands began to appreciate that he was a serious student. (Carver had set up a school for himself
and kept strict hours for each subject.) Whether Carver would allow himself to hope for it or not, the Milhollands knew he should go to college.
They also knew that Simpson College in Iowa had been endowed by Matthew Simpson, a Methodist bishop and friend of Abraham Lincoln. Simpson had been a believer in the equality of all men, and Mr. Milholland assured Carver that Simpson College would accept him if only he would go. But—after Carver’s disappointment at Highland years before—he required persistent persuasion. Eventually they won him over. One day while scrubbing a customer’s clothes in his little home/laundry service, Carver’s light came back on. He would go to college. Carver, now nearly 30 years old, entered Simp- son in the fall of 1890, enrolling in all the classes you’d expect (along with a preparatory course in math, his weak point). Then he presented himself to the art teacher, Miss
Etta Budd. She was shocked that a black student would want to enter such an impractical course and required that Carver prove himself and his skills. After two weeks of restless anxiety and labored sketching, Carver did just that. He went on to become one of the finest students Miss Budd had ever known.
A friendship grew between Carver and Miss Budd, and so did her concern for his welfare. Although he was a talented student, she knew of no black people who made a living with art. She spoke with him about the pos- sibility of pursuing a more practical path.
In fact, Carver had been very happy at Simpson, where he was finally free to paint to his heart’s content and where he had formed many satisfy- ing friendships. But Carver had been troubled by a sense that he should be doing more to help his people. Aunt Mariah’s words, uttered when Carver was just a boy, rang in his ears—“Go out in the world and give your learn- ing back to our people. They’re starving for a little learning.” So when Miss Budd told Carver that she had spoken with her father— J.L. Budd, Pro- fessor of Horticulture at Iowa Agricultural College in Ames— and that Ames would take him, Carver sadly agreed that he should go. He enrolled at Ames in May of 1891.
During his time at Ames—both as a student and later as an instructor—Carver studied mycology exten- sively. (I will save you the time I spent looking up mycology: it is the study of fungi.) His descriptions and discoveries of several fungi were added to the general library on the subject. In fact, several fungi are named for Carver; just watch for carveri in your mycological mean- derings, and you will find a testament to his work. Carver’s achievements and hard work found a counter-balance in his general enjoyment of life. He joined clubs. He played music at school and community events. He attended church. He made countless friends and was admired by people who knew him. He created an unknown number paintings (unknown because many of them were destroyed in a fire at Tuskegee in the years fol- lowing his death), and his talent was widely recognized. In fact, during his Ames years, some classmates
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