Roland Jefferson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roland Jefferson
Jefferson in 1995
Born	Roland Maurice Jefferson (1923-09-03)September 3, 1923 Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died	November 27, 2020(2020-11-27) (aged 97)
Alma mater	Howard University (BS)
Known for	Blossoming cherry trees
Scientific career
Fields	Botany (pomology, dendrology)
Institutions	U.S. National Arboretum

Roland Maurice Jefferson (born September 3, 1923 – died November 27, 2020) was an American botanist. He was the first African-American botanist to work at the United States National Arboretum. He worked there from 1956 to 1987. He became a world expert on flowering cherry trees. He even helped write a book in 1977 about how Washington, D.C., got its famous cherry trees, which are celebrated during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Early Life and Education

Roland Jefferson was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were Edward Wilson Jefferson and Bernice Cornelia Bond. He went to Dunbar High School. During World War II, he served in the US Army Air Forces.

After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to go to college. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in botany from Howard University in 1950. It was hard for him to find a job in his field at first. He even thought about going to dental school.

In 1956, he got a job at the US National Arboretum. He started by making labels for plants. He quickly found a better way to do this. He replaced the old plastic labels with new metal ones that lasted longer. Because of his good work, he was promoted in 1957. He became a botanist, which made him the first African American to reach this position at the US National Arboretum.

Studying Cherry Trees

Cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.

Roland Jefferson was an expert on crab apple trees. He wrote a book about them in 1970. In 1972, he started studying the Japanese blossoming cherry trees. These trees were planted in Washington, D.C.'s West Potomac Park a long time ago.

He collected a lot of information about these trees. With historian Alan Fusonie, he wrote an important book in 1977. It was called The Japanese Flowering Cherry Trees of Washington D.C.: A Living Symbol of Friendship.

Preserving the Famous Cherry Trees

The first cherry trees were planted in 1909 by First Lady Helen Herron Taft. Then, in 1912, the mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, gave 1,800 more Japanese cherry trees to the United States. This was a gift of friendship from Japan.

Roland Jefferson noticed that some of the original cherry trees were getting old. To save them, he took small pieces (called cuttings) from the trees. He grew over one hundred new trees from these cuttings between 1976 and 1979. He played a very important part in keeping D.C.'s famous cherry trees alive.

In 1981, First Lady Nancy Reagan gave one of his new trees to Japan. The governor of Tokyo, Shunichi Suzuki, named it the President Reagan Cherry Tree. Tokyo later planted 1,200 of Jefferson's cherry tree cuttings at Toneri Park.

International Seed Exchange

In 1982, Roland Jefferson started a special program. He asked Japanese schoolchildren to collect half a million Japanese cherry seeds. In return, he sent American dogwood seeds to Japan. This helped share different types of trees between the two countries.

He also traveled to Europe, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. He collected different plant samples and seeds. Growing these new plants helped make American cherry trees stronger and more diverse.

Hardier Cherry Trees

In 1984, people wanted cherry trees that could survive cold weather better. Roland Jefferson sent twenty-four young cherry trees he grew to the Japanese Garden at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota. These trees came from seeds he collected in Hokkaido, Japan. This type of cherry tree can handle very cold temperatures. Now, it is grown all over the United States.

In the early 1980s, Jefferson and his helper, Kay Kazue Wain, organized flowering cherries into new groups. They used Japanese names like Yama-zakura (wild mountain cherries) and Sato-zakura (cultivated village cherries). Their work was published in 1984.

Roland Jefferson later gave his personal papers to the National Arboretum's library. This helped preserve his important research.

Personal Life

Roland Jefferson retired in 1987. He lived in Japan from 1987 to 1998. Later, he lived in Seattle, Washington, and then in Honolulu, Hawaii.

He met Keiko Ishisaki during a trip to Japan to collect plants. They got married in 1983. Keiko passed away in Honolulu in 2014.