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American History: George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver – 1864–1943

George Washington Carver was a prominent scientist, inventor, and educator at Tuskegee University. He’s famous for creating hundreds of products from peanuts, soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes, and other plants. Carver was born into slavery in Missouri, near the end of the Civil War. As a young man, he attended several schools before earning his diploma at a Kansas high school. He was accepted into a college in Kansas, only to be denied admittance because the college found out he was black. He conducted biological experiments and compiled a geological collection while homesteading a claim in lieu of attending classes.

George Washington Carver wasn’t only interested in science, he was interested in painting and drawing, so he began studying music and art at an Iowa college. He ended up enrolling in the botany program at Iowa State Agricultural College, becoming its first black student. He eventually earned a master’s degree there.

After graduating, he was soon hired by Tuskegee Institute founder, Booker T. Washington, to run the agricultural program. The program became nationally known under Carver’s leadership. His areas of research included the development of alternative cash crops and crop rotation, methods that helped farmers in areas where cotton was heavily planted and destroyed by the boll weevil.

He taught in a formal classroom at the Institute, and pioneered a mobile classroom, to bring lessons to the farmers. Carver’s reputation grew as he became a prominent scientific expert, achieving international fame in professional and political circles. He was tapped by President Theodore Roosevelt for agricultural advice. As his international reputation grew, he was made a member of the British Royal Society of Arts, in recognition of his scientific expertise, which was rare for an American to receive this honor. He also advised Mahatma Gandhi on nutrition and agriculture. He wrote a syndicated newspaper column, spoke on the importance of agricultural innovation and Tuskegee achievements. Famed physicist, Albert Einstein considered Carver one of the ten greatest scientists of all time.

George Washington Carver Inventions

As the head of the agricultural department at Tuskegee Institute, he was involved in groundbreaking research on plant biology and finding new uses for crops including soybeans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and pecans.

He invented more than 300 products from peanuts (but not peanut butter), including milk, paints, plastics, dyes, cosmetics, soap, medicinal oils, ink, and wood stains.

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He invented 118 products from sweet potatoes, including molasses, postage stamp glue, flour, vinegar, and synthetic rubber and gasoline. He is the father of crop rotation, a system where different crops, such as peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, would be planted in fields that were left without much nutrition by overproduction of a crop, like cotton. The new crops would restore nitrogen in the soil.

He refused to patent his products, opting to give away formulas to the companies where he worked as an unpaid consultant. He was even offered a $100,000 a year to work in Thomas Edison’s laboratories. He chose instead to stay at Tuskegee Institute.

Although Carver spoke on the possibilities for racial harmony, he declined to outright criticize the social norms of the time. He and Booker T. Washington championed the politics of accommodation rather than radical change. A position disliked by the activists of the time.

Carver fell down the stairs at his home and died on January 5, 1943, he was 78 and was buried next to Booker T. Washington on the grounds of Tuskegee.

George Washington Carver used his savings to build the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center in Austin, Texas. In addition to showcasing his scientific achievements, the museum includes some of his drawings and paintings. Carver also established the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee, with the mission of supporting future agricultural research.

Carter was memorialized with a national monument in 1943, the first to a black American, near the area he grew up as a child. The 210-acre complex includes a nature trail, cemetery, and a statue of Carver. Carter has appeared on U.S. commemorative postal stamps in 1948 and 1998, and a commemorative half-dollar coin between 1951 and 1954. Several schools are named after him as are two U.S. military ships. In 2005, the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis opened a George Washington Carver Garden, complete with a life-size statue of Carver.

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