George Washington Carver was an African American scientist and educator. Carver is famous for many inventions including a number of uses for the peanut. George Washington Carver was born enslaved and went on to become one of the most prominent scientists and inventors of his time, as well as a teacher at the Tuskegee Institute. Carver devised over 100 products using one major crop — the peanut — including dyes, plastics and gasoline.Carver was most likely born in 1864 enslaved in Diamond, Missouri, during the Civil War years. Like many children of enslaved, the exact year and date of his birth are unknown.Carver was one of many children born to Mary and Giles, an enslaved couple owned by Moses Carver. A week after his birth, Carver was kidnapped along with his sister and mother from the Carver farm by raiders from the neighboring state of Arkansas. The three were later sold in Kentucky. Among them, only the infant Carver was located by an agent of Moses Carver and returned to Missouri. The conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 brought the end of slavery in Missouri. Moses and his wife, Susan, decided to keep Carver and his brother James at their home after that time, raising and educating the two boys. Susan Carver taught Carver to read and write since no local school would accept Black students at the time.
The search for knowledge would remain a driving force for the rest of Carver’s life. As a young man, he left the Carver home to travel to a school for Black children 10 miles away. It was at this point that the boy, who had always identified himself as “Carver’s George” first came to be known as “George Carver.” Carver attended a series of schools before receiving his diploma at Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas. Accepted to Highland College in Highland, Kansas, Carver was denied admittance once college administrators learned of his race. Instead of attending classes, he homesteaded a claim, where he conducted biological experiments and compiled a geological collection. part from his work to improve the lives of farmers, Carver was also a leader in promoting environmentalism. He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP. In an era of high racial polarization, his fame reached beyond the black community. He was widely recognized and praised in the white community for his many achievements and talents. In 1941, Time magazine dubbed Carver a “Black Leonardo”. Color film of Carver shot in 1937 at the Tuskegee Institute by African American surgeon Allen Alexander was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2019. The 12 minutes of footage includes Carver in his apartment, office and laboratory, as well as images of him tending flowers and displaying his paintings. The film was digitized by The National Archives as part of its multi-year effort to preserve and make available the historically significant film collections of the National Park Service.
16 FACTS ABOUT GEORGE W. CARVER – (https://www.nationalpeanutboard.org/)
1. Most people assume that Carver was born in Alabama but he was actually born in Diamond Grove, Missouri before the Civil War.
2. Before sustainability was a pop culture topic, Carver promoted responsible farming practices, like planting peanuts in rotation with cotton since peanuts add nutrients to the soil.
3, George Washington Carver was the first African American to enroll at Iowa State University. He later received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from there.
4, After Carver received his master’s degree Booker T. Washington offered him a job at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama to serve as the Director of the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School.
5, The George Washington Carver Museum in Tuskegee, Alabama, has a nutrition trail that features signs with nutritional facts and quotes from Carver.
6, In 1916, Carver published a research bulletin, “How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption.” This bulletin includes several interesting ways to use peanuts like shampoo, mayonnaise, paints and coffee.
7. Not only was Carver skilled in finding uses for peanuts, he also found new ways to use Alabama clay and sweet potatoes.
8. Carver was one of the most prominent African Americans of his time and well-recognized for his work in plant research.
9. George Washington Carver advised Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi on matters of agriculture and nutrition.
10. George Washington Carver was the first African American to have a national park named after him. You can visit the park and his monument in Missouri.
11. In addition to being an excellent scientist and inventor, Carver was also an accomplished pianist and painter. His artwork was exhibited at the World’s Fair in 1893.
12. About George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “From oppressive and crippling surroundings, George Washington Carver lifted his searching, creative mind to the ordinary peanut, and found therein extraordinary possibilities for goods and products unthinkable by minds of the past, and left for succeeding generations an inspiring example of how an individual could rise above the paralyzing conditions of circumstance.”
13. Many people think that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter, but contrary to popular belief peanut butter was around centuries before he was around. He did help popularize the food.
14. He helped Henry Ford make peanut rubber for cannons for World War II.
15. George Washington Carver was born into slavery in around 1864. The conclusion of the Civil War in 1865 brought the end of slavery in Missouri. Carver’s former slave owner Moses Carver and his wife, Susan, decided to keep George and his brother James at their home after that time, raising and educating the two boys. Susan taught George to read and write, since no local school would accept black students at the time.
16. Carver published 44 practical bulletins for farmers.