George R. Smith College

George R. Smith College

George R. Smith College was a Historically Black College^[1] located in Sedalia, Missouri, it was attended by the famed and prolific American ragtime-music piano composer Scott Joplin famous for the piano music piece "Maple Leaf Rag." The institution was associated with the Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society of the Methodist Church and played an important role in the lives of young people for several decades.

According to the ^[2] by Howard Conrad, the building was completed in 1882. The college operated from 1894^[3] until it burned down April 26, 1925, after which its assets were merged (in 1933) with the Philander Smith College^[4] in Little Rock, Arkansas. A photograph of George R Smith College, with students, can be found among the references listed here.^[5]

Alumni[]

• Myrtle Craig Mowbray, first African American woman to graduate from Michigan State University, in 1907^[6]
• John Wesley Donaldson, baseball player^{[citation needed]}
• Scott Joplin, ragtime music piano composer^[7]
• T. Manuel Smith, MD, president of the National Medical Association (1942-1943)^[8]

Presidents[]

• P.A. Cool, 1894-1897
• E.A. Robertson, 1897-1902
• I.L. Lowe, 1902-1907
• A.C. Maclin, 1907-1910
• J.C. Sherrill, 1910-1912
• George Evans, 1912-1914
• Matthew Simpson Davage, 1914-1916, later served as president of Haven Institute, Samuel Huston College, Rust College, and Clark University
• Robert B. Hayes, 1916-1925

References[]

External links[]

• African American Methodism and Higher Education in Missouri
• The Biggest Little Black College on the Prairie

Coordinates: 38°43′N 93°13′W / 38.72°N 93.22°W / 38.72; -93.22