Jesse Jarue Mark (1906-1971) was one of the first African-Americans to gain a PhD in botany, and likely to be the first at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, where he joined the faculty. He was also a Rockefeller Agriculture Fellow.

Early life

Jesse Jarue Mark was born in 1906 in

Apple Springs, Texas Apple Springs is a small unincorporated community in Trinity County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 185 in 2000. It is located within the Huntsville, Texas micropolitan area. History T ...

, a town that had a school with 28 children in 1896 and a total population of 75 by World War I. A misspelling of his name as Jessie in the historical record appears to have led to the assumption that he was a woman.

Education and career

Mark attended the historically Black college, Prairie View State College (now

Prairie View A&M University Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU or PV) is a public historically black land-grant university in Prairie View, Texas. Founded in 1876, it is one of Texas's two land-grant universities and the second oldest public institution of higher learnin ...

). He was awarded a baccalaureate degree in 1929. Mark earned his master's degree at

(ISU) in 1931, gained a position as professor at Kentucky State Industrial College (now

Kentucky State University Kentucky State University (KSU and KYSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons ...

), and continued research associated with the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station at ISU, a research program that was founded in 1888. Mark was awarded his PhD by ISU in 1935. His doctoral work, "The relation of reserves to cold resistance in alfalfa", was published in 1936 and is in university version and journal version online. Mark studied cold resistance by growing six varieties of

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

alfalfa known to have different levels of hardiness to cold. He analyzed samples from 50 representative plants of each variety. Mark was a Rockefeller Agriculture Fellow in 1935–1936. Mark died on February 20, 1971, aged sixty-five. He is buried in the Nigton Memorial Park Cemetery in Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mark, Jesse Jarue 1906 births 20th-century American botanists Iowa State University alumni Year of death missing Iowa State University faculty 20th-century African-American scientists