George went away to a school for African Americans. He finished school and wanted to go to college. He went to Simpson College in Iowa first. He liked painting plants and flowers. He was a good painter, but his teacher told him he should probably study botany if he wanted to make a living.
Botany is the study of plants.
George went to Iowa State College to study botany and graduated in 1894. He continued to teach there and received a master's degree in science in 1896. While he was at Iowa State, he received a letter from Booker T. Washington, an African-American leader. Washington asked George to come teach at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. George liked teaching at the Tuskegee Institute.