George Washington Carver

"The world of science has lost one of its most eminent figures and the race from which he sprang an outstanding member in the passing of Dr. George Washington Carver" (Haber 73). This was part of a telegram sent by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Tuskegee Institute following the death of George Washington Carver, the man who revolutionized and revitalized the dying agriculture of the South. The story of his life is just as amazing as his achievements.

He was born a slave in Diamond Grove, Missouri in 1860. One night, he and his mother were stolen by a band of night raiders. His mother died shortly after and Carver, an infant, was ransomed in exchange for a racehorse. When he got older, his master sent him to Neosho, Missouri, where he worked as a farm hand and studied in a one-room, one-teacher school. From there, he went to Minneapolis High School in Kansas, where his record was outstanding. After spending time there, Carver was accepted to Highland University in Kansas with a scholarship. However, because of his color, he was turned away. "When he showed up in person, the president of the university took one look at him and demanded, 'Why didn't you tell me that you were a Negro?'"(Haber 75). Other colleges rejected him because he was black, but he did not let that stop him. In 1887, he was accepted to Simpson College, a Methodist school in Indianola, Iowa. At Simpson, he excelled in his studies, later obtaining a Masters of Science degree in Agriculture. "Once he began college, and had been given a chance, he excelled in his studies, and completed undergraduate school with honors at Iowa State College. He studied botany, chemistry, geometry, bacteriology, zoology and entomology"(Carwell 18).

After Carver received his M.S. degree, Booker T. Washington, the President of Tuskegee Institute sent him a letter asking him to teach there. Carver accepted and would spend the rest of his life there. At Tuskegee, Carver was made the first director of agriculture, where he was given a barren twenty-one acre area to work on. Carver and his students planted cow peas, a legume. "Legumes are plants that have nitrogen-fixing bacteria on their roots. These bacteria take nitrogen form the air and convert it into nitrates, which are used by the soil as fertilizer. The soil thereby becomes enriched"(Haber 78). He then planted sweet potatoes and cotton. By the time he planted the cotton, the soil had become so rich that he was able to harvest five hundred pounds of cotton for every acre of land.

Carver suggested to area farmers to plant peanuts, which are rich in nitrates. This would allow a successful tobacco and cotton crop. The farmers did this, however, they ended up with large amounts of excess peanuts that they could not completely use. As a result, Carver went back to the laboratory and discovered a dozen products that could be made from peanuts, such as milk and cheese. "He went on to work on more products from peanuts in his laboratory in later years and wound up eventually with 325 different products, including cream, buttermilk, instant coffee, face powder, printer's ink, buttermilk, vinegar, dyes, soap, and wood stains"(Haber 79).

Carver soon turned his attention to sweet potatoes where he discovered 118 products that could be made from it. "In fact, during WWI, the U.S. Army used his sweet potato to mix with wheat bread. This was particularly important because of the shortage of wheat during the war"(Haber 79).

Because of his achievements in agriculture, Carver received many awards. In 1916, Carver received the Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce for Great Britain, an honor given to few Americans. In 1923, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal. In 1939, he received the Theodore Roosevelt Medal, which stated, "To a scientist humbly seeking the guidance of god and a liberator to the men of the white race as well as the black."

Many people were eager to hire Carver because of his work, including Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Carver would end up helping Ford use plant weed for producing synthetic rubber. He also managed to develop a plastic material from soybeans, which Ford was able to make use of in certain parts of his automobile.

Carver never married. He died on the Tuskegee campus on January 18,1943. When he died, he left his life savings, the sum of $33,000, to establish the George Washington Carver Foundation. In honor of him, Congress dedicated January 5, 1946, as George Washington Carver Day. The U.S. flag would be displayed on all government building on that day.

George Washington Carver is an inspiration because of his determination. Despite the racism that he had to endure in his lifetime, he never gave up on getting an education. His achievements helped blacks gain respect in the fields of Science and Technology.

By the time of his death in 1943, he had synthesized over three hundred industrial products from the peanut; over one hundred from the sweet potatoe; and over seventy-five from the pecan. Some of the synthetic products developed by Carver.