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George Washington Carver (July 12, 1864 – January 5, 1943)

^[1] was an American botany researcher and agronomy educator who worked in agricultural extension at the Tuskegee Institute, in Tuskegee, Alabama, teaching former slaves farming techniques for self-sufficiency.

To bring education to farmers, Carver designed a mobile school, called a Jesup Wagon after the New York financier, Morris Ketchum Jesup, who provided funding.^[2] In 1921, Carver spoke in favor of a peanut tariff before the Ways and Means Committee of the United States House of Representatives. Given racial discrimination of the time, it was unusual for a black person to be called as an expert. Carver's well received testimony earned him national attention, and he became an unofficial spokesman for the peanut industry. Carver wrote 44 practical agricultural bulletins for farmers.

In the Reconstruction South, an agricultural monoculture of cotton depleted the soil; and, in the early 20th century, the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crop. Much of Carver's fame was based on his research and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops as both a source of their own food and a cash crop. His most popular bulletin contained 105 existing food recipes that used peanuts. His most famous method of promoting the peanut involved his creation of about 100 existing industrial products from peanuts, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and nitroglycerin. His industrial products from peanuts excited the public imagination, but none was a successful commercial product. There are many myths about Carver, especially the myth that his industrial products from peanuts played a major role in revolutionizing Southern agriculture.^[3][4]

Carver's most important accomplishments were in areas other than industrial products from peanuts, including agricultural extension education, improvement of racial relations, mentoring children, poetry, painting, religion, and advocacy of sustainable agriculture and appreciation of plants and nature. He served as a valuable role model for black Americans and others, and as an example of the importance of hard work, a positive attitude, and a good education. His humility, humanitarianism, good nature, frugality, and lack of economic materialism also have been admired widely.

One of his most important roles was in undermining, through the fame of his achievements and many talents, the widespread stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. In 1941, Time magazine dubbed him a "Black Leonardo", a reference to the white polymath Leonardo da Vinci^[5]

National Basketball Association star David Robinson and his wife, Valerie, founded an academy named after Carver; it opened on September 17, 2001, in San Antonio, Texas.^[6]

Contents [hide] 1 Early years 2 College 3 At Tuskegee with Booker T. Washington 4 Rise to fame 5 Life while famous 6 Death and afterwards 7 Reputed inventions 7.1 Peanut products 7.2 Sweet potato products 8 Beyond the Peanut Man legend 9 Religion 10 Trivia 11 Notes 12 References 13 External links 13.1 Tributes 13.2 Print Publications

[edit] Early years

He was born into slavery in Newton County, Marion Township, near Diamond Grove, now known as Diamond, Missouri. He was born on July 12, 1864^[7]. His owner, Moses Carver, was a German American immigrant who had purchased George's mother, Mary, from William P. McGinnis on October 9, 1855 for seven hundred dollars. The identity of Carver's father is unknown but he had sisters and a brother, all of whom died prematurely.

When George was an infant, he, a sister, and his mother were kidnapped by night raiders and sold in Arkansas, a common practice. Moses Carver hired John Bentley to find them. Only Carver was found, orphaned and near death from whooping cough. Carver's mother and sister had already died, although some reports stated that his mother and sister had gone north with the soldiers. For returning George, Moses Carver rewarded Bentley with his best filly that would later produce winning race horses. This episode caused George a bout of respiratory disease that left him with a permanently weakened constitution. Because of this, he was unable to work as a hand and spent his time wandering the fields, drawn to the varieties of wild plants. He became so knowledgeable that he was known by Moses Carver's neighbors as the "Plant Doctor."

One day he was called to a neighbor's house to help with a plant in need. When he had fixed the problem, he was told to go into the kitchen to collect his reward. When he entered the kitchen, he saw no one. He did, however, see something that changed his life: beautiful paintings of flowers on the walls of the room. From that moment on, he knew that he was going to be an artist as well as a botanist.

After slavery was abolished, Moses Carver and his wife Susan raised George and his brother Jim as their own children. They encouraged George Carver to continue his intellectual pursuits and "Aunt Susan" taught him the basics of reading and writing.

Since blacks were not allowed at the school in Diamond Grove and he had received news that there was a school for blacks ten miles (16 km) south in Neosho, he resolved to go there at once. To his dismay, when he reached the town, the school had been closed for the night. As he had nowhere to stay, he slept in a nearby barn. By his own account, the next morning he met a kind woman, Mariah Watkins, from whom he wished to rent a room. When he identified himself "Carver's George," as he had done his whole life, she replied that from now on, his name was "George Carver." George liked this lady very much and her words "You must learn all you can, then go back out into the world and give your learning back to the people," made a great impression on him.

At the age of thirteen, due to his desire to attend high school, he relocated to the home of another foster family in Fort Scott, Kansas. After witnessing the beating to death of a black man at the hands of a group of white men, George left Fort Scott. He subsequently attended a series of schools before earning his diploma at Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas.

After high school, George started a laundry business in Olathe, Kansas.

[edit] College

At work in his laboratory

Over the next five years, he sent several letters to colleges and was finally accepted at Highland College in Highland, Kansas. He travelled to the college, but he was rejected when they discovered that he was an African American.

Carver's travels took him to Winterset, Iowa in the mid-1880s, where he met the Milhollands, a white couple whom he later credited with encouraging him to pursue higher education. The Milhollands urged Carver to enroll in nearby Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, which he did despite his reluctance due to his previous rejection at Highland College.

In 1887, he was accepted into Simpson as its second African-American student. While in college at Simpson, he showed a strong aptitude for singing and art. His art teacher, Etta Budd, was the daughter of the head of the department of horticulture at Iowa State: Joseph Budd. Etta convinced Carver to pursue a career that paid better than art and so he transferred to Iowa State. The encouragement Etta Budd gave Carver to seek a better-paying career was well-warranted, at least for Etta. She died a poor retired art teacher in a Boone, Iowa retirement home.

He transferred in 1891 to Iowa State Agricultural College, where he was the first black student, and later the first black faculty member. In order to avoid confusion with another George Carver in his classes, he began to use the name George Washington Carver.

At the end of his undergraduate career in 1894, recognizing Carver's potential, Joseph Budd and Louis Pammel convinced Carver to stay at Iowa State for his master's degree. Carver then performed research at the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station under Pammel from 1894 to his graduation in 1896. It is his work at the experiment station in plant pathology and mycology that first gained him national recognition and respect as a botanist.

[edit] At Tuskegee with Booker T. Washington

In 1896, Carver was invited to lead the Agriculture Department at the five year old Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, later Tuskegee University, by its founder, Booker T. Washington, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Carver accepted the position, and remained there for 47 years, until his death in 1943. Carver never married.

Carver had numerous problems at Tuskegee before he became famous. Carver's perceived arrogance, his higher than normal salary and the two rooms he received for his personal use were resented by other faculty.^[8] Single faculty members normally bunked two to a room. One of Carver's duties was to administer the Agricultural Experiment Station farms. He was expected to produce and sell farm products to make a profit. He soon proved to be a poor administrator. In 1900, Carver complained that the physical work and the letter-writing his agricultural work required were both too much for him.^[9]

In 1902, Booker T. Washington invited a nationally famous woman photographer to Tuskegee. Carver and Nelson Henry, a Tuskegee graduate, accompanied the attractive white woman in the town of Ramer. Several white citizens thought Henry was improperly associating with a white woman. Someone fired three pistol shots at Henry and he fled. Mobs prevented him from returning. Carver considered himself fortunate to escape alive.^[10]

In 1904, a committee reported that Carver's reports on the poultry yard were exaggerated, and Washington criticized Carver about the exaggerations. Carver replied to Washington "Now to be branded as a liar and party to such hellish deception it is more than I can bear, and if your committee feel that I have willfully lied or [was] party to such lies as were told my resignation is at your disposal." ^[11] In 1910, Carver submitted a letter of resignation in response to a reorganization of the agriculture programs.^[12]: Carver again threatened to resign in 1912 over his teaching assignment.^[13] Carver submitted a letter of resignation in 1913, with the intention of heading up an experiment station elsewhere.^[14] He also threatened to resign in 1913 and 1914 when he didn't get a summer teaching assignment ^[15][16] In each case, Washington smoothed things over. It seemed that Carver's wounded pride prompted most of the resignation threats, especially the last two because he did not need the money from summer work.

In 1911, Washington wrote a lengthy letter to Carver complaining that Carver did not follow orders to plant certain crops at the experiment station.^[17] He also refused Carver's demands for a new laboratory and research supplies for Carver's exclusive use and for Carver to teach no classes. He complimented Carver's abilities in teaching and original research but bluntly stated his poor administrative skills, "When it comes to the organization of classes, the ability required to secure a properly organized and large school or section of a school, you are wanting in ability. When it comes to the matter of practical farm managing which will secure definite, practical, financial results, you are wanting again in ability." Also in 1911, Carver complained that his laboratory was still without the equipment promised 11 months earlier. At the same time, Carver complained of committees criticizing him and that his "nerves will not stand" any more committee meetings.^[18]

Despite their clashes, Booker T. Washington praised Carver in the 1911 book, My Larger Education: Being Chapters from My Experience.^[19] Booker called Carver "one of the most thoroughly scientific men of the Negro race with whom I am acquainted." Like most later Carver biographies, it also contained exaggerations. It inaccurately claimed that as a young boy Carver "proved to be such a weak and sickly little creature that no attempt was made to put him to work and he was allowed to grow up among chickens and other animals around the servants' quarters, getting his living as best he could." Carver wrote elsewhere that his adoptive parents, the Carvers, were "very kind" to him. ^[20]

Booker T. Washington died in 1915. His successor made fewer demands on Carver. From 1915 to 1923, Carver's major focus was compiling existing uses and proposing new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, pecans and other crops ^[21]. This work and especially his promotion of peanuts for the peanut growers association and before Congress eventually made him the most famous African-American of his time.

[edit] Rise to fame

Carver had an interest in helping poor Southern farmers who were working low quality soils that had been depleted of nutrients by repeated plantings of cotton crops. He and other agricultural workers urged farmers to restore nitrogen to their soils by practicing systematic crop rotation, alternating cotton crops with plantings of sweet potatoes or legumes (such as peanuts, soybeans and cowpeas) that were also sources of protein. Following the crop rotation practice resulted in improved cotton yields and gave farmers new foods and alternative cash crops. In order to train farmers to successfully rotate crops and cultivate the new foods, Carver developed an agricultural extension program for Alabama that was similar to the one at Iowa State. In addition, he founded an industrial research laboratory where he and assistants worked to popularize use of the new plants by developing hundreds of applications for them through original research and also by promoting recipes and applications that they collected from others. Carver distributed his information as agricultural bulletins. (See Carver bulletins below.)

File:George Washington Carver-peanut specimen.jpeg

Peanut specimen collected by Carver

Much of Carver's fame is related to the hundreds of plant products he supposedly invented. However, the number and impact of Carver's inventions have been greatly inflated. After Carver's death, lists were created of the plant products Carver compiled or originated. Such lists enumerate about 300 applications for peanuts and 118 for sweet potatoes, although 73 of the 118 were dyes. He made similar investigations into uses for cowpeas, soybeans and pecans. Carver did not write down formulas for most of his novel plant products so they could not be made by others. None of Carver's peanut products was ever a commercial success so they did not revolutionize Southern agriculture as frequently claimed. Carver is also often incorrectly credited with the invention of peanut butter (see Reputed inventions below).

Until 1921, Carver was not widely known for his agricultural research. However, he was known in Washington, D.C. President Theodore Roosevelt publicly admired his work. James Wilson, a former Iowa state dean and teacher of Carver's, was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1897 to 1913. Henry Cantwell Wallace, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1921 to 1924, was one of Carver's teachers at Iowa State. Carver was a friend of Wallace's son, Henry A. Wallace, also an Iowa State graduate. ^[22] The younger Wallace served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1933 to 1940 and as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Vice President from 1941-1945.

In 1916 Carver was made a member of the Royal Society of Arts in England, one of only a handful of Americans at that time to receive this honor. However, Carver's promotion of peanuts gained him the most fame.

In 1919, Carver wrote to a peanut company about the great potential he saw for his new peanut milk. Both he and the peanut industry seemed unaware that in 1917, William Melhuish had secured patent #1,243,855 for a milk substitute made from peanuts and soybeans. Despite reservations about his race, the peanut industry invited him as a speaker to their 1920 convention. He discussed "The Possibilities of the Peanut," and exhibited 145 peanut products.

By 1920, U.S. peanut farmers were being undercut with imported peanuts from the Republic of China. White peanut farmers and processors came together in 1921 to plead their cause before a Congressional committee hearings on a tariff. Carver was elected to speak at the hearings because he had spoken at the convention of the United Peanut Associations of America. Carver was a novel choice because of U.S. racial segregation. On arrival, Carver was mocked by surprised Southern congressmen, but he was not deterred and began to explain some of the many uses for the peanut. Initially given ten minutes to present, the now spellbound committee extended his time again and again. The committee rose in applause as he finished his presentation, and the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922 included a tariff on imported peanuts. Carver's presentation to Congress made him famous, while his intelligence, ability to communicate, and amiability and courtesy delighted the general public.

[edit] Life while famous

During the last two decades of his life, Carver seemed to enjoy his celebrity status. He was often traveling to promote Tuskegee, peanuts or racial harmony. Although he only published six agricultural bulletins after 1922, he published articles in peanut industry journals and wrote a syndicated newspaper column, "Professor Carver's Advice." Business leaders came to seek his help, and he often responded with free advice. Three American presidents — Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt — met with him, and the Crown Prince of Sweden studied with him for three weeks.

In 1923, Carver received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, awarded annually for outstanding achievement. From 1923 to 1933, Carver toured white Southern colleges for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. ^[21]

Carver was famously criticized in a Nov. 20, 1924 New York Times article "Men of Science Never Talk That Way." The Times considered Carver's statements that God guided his research were inconsistent with a scientific approach. The criticism garnered a lot of sympathy for Carver because Christians viewed it as an attack on religion.

In 1928, Simpson College bestowed Carver with an honorary doctorate. For a 1929 book on Carver, Raleigh H. Merritt contacted Carver. Merritt wrote "At present not a great deal has been done to utilize Dr. Carver's discoveries commercially. He says that he is merely scratching the surface of scientific investigations of the possibilities of the peanut and other Southern products." ^[23] Yet in 1932, Professor of Literature, James Saxon Childers wrote that Carver and his peanut products were almost solely responsible for the rise in U.S. peanut production after the boll weevil devastated the American cotton crop beginning about 1892. Childer's 1932 article on Carver, "A Boy Who Was Traded for a Horse" in The American Magazine and its 1937 reprint in Reader's Digest did much to establish this Carver myth. Other major magazines and newspapers of the time also exaggerated Carver's impact on the peanut industry. ^[24]

From 1933 to 1935, Carver was largely occupied with work on peanut oil massages for treating infantile paralysis (polio). ^[21] Carver received tremendous media attention and visitations from parents and their sick children; however, it was ultimately found that peanut oil was not the miracle cure it was made out to be--it was the massages which provided the benefits. Carver had been a trainer for the Iowa State football team and was skilled as a masseur. From 1935 to 1937, Carver participated in the USDA Disease Survey. Carver had specialized in plant diseases and mycology for his Master's degree.

In 1937, Carver attended two chemurgy conferences. ^[21] He met Henry Ford at the Dearborn, MI conference, and they became close friends. Also, in 1937, Carver's health declined. Time magazine reported in 1941 that Henry Ford installed an elevator for Carver because his doctor told him not to climb the 19 stairs to his room. ^[5] In 1942, the two men denied that they were working together on a solution to the wartime rubber shortage. Carver also did work with soy, which he and Ford considered as an alternative fuel.

In 1939, Carver received the Roosevelt Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Southern Agriculture enscribed "to a scientist humbly seeking the guidance of God and a liberator to men of the white race as well as the black." In 1940, Carver established the George Washington Carver Foundation at the Tuskegee Institute. In 1941, the George Washington Carver Museum was dedicated at the Tuskegee Institute. In 1942, Henry Ford built a replica of Carver's slave cabin at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI as a tribute to his friend. Also in 1942, Ford dedicated the George Washington Carver Laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan.

[edit] Death and afterwards

Upon returning from home one day, Carver took a bad fall down a flight of stairs; he was found unconscious by a maid who took him to a hospital. Carver died January 5, 1943 at the age of 78 from complications (anemia) resulting from this fall. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee University.

On his grave was written the simplest and most meaningful summary of his life. He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.

Before and after his death, there was a movement to establish a U.S. national monument to Carver. However, because of World War II such non-war expenditures were banned by presidential order. Missouri Senator Harry S Truman sponsored a bill anyway. In a committee hearing on the bill, one supporter argued that "The bill is not simply a momentary pause on the part of busy men engaged in the conduct of the war, to do honor to one of the truly great Americans of this country, but it is in essence a blow against the Axis, it is in essence a war measure in the sense that it will further unleash and release the energies of roughly 15,000,000 Negro people in this country for full support of our war effort." ^[21] The bill passed in both houses without a single vote against.

1948 US Postage Stamp

On July 14, 1943^[25], President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated $30,000 for the George Washington Carver National Monument west-southwest of Diamond, Missouri - an area where Carver had spent time in his childhood. This was the first national monument dedicated to an African-American and first to a non-President. At this Template:Convert national monument, there is a bust of Carver, a ¾-mile nature trail, a museum, the 1881 Moses Carver house, and the Carver cemetery. Due to a variety of delays, the National Monument was not opened until July, 1953.

In December 1947, a fire destroyed all but three of 48 of Carver's paintings at the Carver Museum ^[26] Carver appeared on U.S. commemorative stamps in 1948 and 1998, and was depicted on a commemorative half dollar coin from 1951 to 1954. The USS George Washington Carver (SSBN-656) is also named in his honor.

In 1977, Carver was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans. In 1990, Carver was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1994, Iowa State University awarded Carver the Doctor of Humane Letters. In 2000, Carver was a charter inductee in the USDA Hall of Heroes as the "Father of Chemurgy." ^[27]

In 2005, Carver's research at the Tuskegee Institute was designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society. ^[28] On February 15, 2005, an episode of Modern Marvels included scenes from within Iowa State University's Food Sciences Building and about Carver's work. In 2005, the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri opened a George Washington Carver garden in his honor, which includes a lifesize statue of him.

Many institutions honor George Washington Carver to this day, particularly the American public school system. Dozens of elementary schools and high schools are named after him. Ironically, despite his fame and wish to share his work with all mankind, few of Carver's writings are available online, just 3 of 44 bulletins, a poem or two and a few dozen inspirational quotations.

[edit] Reputed inventions

George Washington Carver reputedly discovered three hundred uses for peanuts and hundreds more uses for soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes. Among the listed items that he suggested to southern farmers to help them economically were adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder and wood stain. Three patents (one for cosmetics, and two for paints and stains) were issued to George Washington Carver in the years 1925 to 1927; however, they were not commercially successful in the end. Aside from these patents and some recipes for food, he left no formulas or procedures for making his products.^[29] He did not keep a laboratory notebook.

[edit] Peanut products

Carver's fame today is typically summarized by the claim that he invented more than 300 uses for the peanut. However, Carver's lists contain many products he did not invent; the lists also have many redundancies. The 105 recipes in Carver's 1916 bulletin ^[30] were common kitchen recipes, but some appear on lists of his peanut inventions, including salted peanuts, bar candy, chocolate coated peanuts, peanut chocolate fudge, peanut wafers and peanut brittle. Carver acknowledged over two dozen other publications as the sources of the 105 peanut recipes.^[31] Carver's list of peanut inventions includes 30 cloth dyes, 19 leather dyes, 18 insulating boards, 17 wood stains, 11 wall boards and 11 peanut flours.^[32] These six product types account for 106 "uses". If the multiple listings for the same product, redundant listings and uses unoriginal to Carver are removed, the list of Carver's peanut inventions is about 100 rather than 300.

Even many seemingly innovative uses, such as cocoa, coffee and soap were not new. An 1885 peanut book by B.W. Jones, The Peanut Plant: Its Cultivation and Uses, included recipes for peanut chocolate and peanut coffee and reported that soap had been made from peanuts. ^[33] Carver's nine stock feeds from peanuts were not new either. Jones reported that "Every kind of stock, horses, cows, sheep, hogs and poultry, are exceedingly fond of the Peanut and will leave any other food to partake of it."

Recipe number 51 on the list of 105 peanut uses describes a "peanut butter" that led to the belief that Carver invented the modern product with this name. It is a recipe for making a typical gritty, oily peanut butter of the period. It does not have the key steps (which would be difficult to achieve in a kitchen) for manufacturing stable, creamy commercial peanut butter that was developed in 1922 by Joseph L. Rosefield. Carver is also often incorrectly credited with the invention of the original oily type of peanut butter. In 1890, even before Carver was in college, George A. Bayle Jr. of St. Louis marketed a crude form of peanut butter as a food easily eaten by people with poor teeth.

Carver's original uses for peanuts include radical substitutes for existing products such as gasoline and nitroglycerin. These products remain mysterious because Carver never published his formulas, except for his peanut cosmetic patent. Many of them may only have been hypothetical proposals. Without Carver's formulas, others could not determine if his products were worthwhile or manufacture them. Thus, the widespread claims that Carver's peanut inventions revolutionized Southern agriculture by creating large new markets for peanuts have no factual basis.^[34] Exaggerations of the number and impact of Carver's inventions are why historians now consider Carver's scientific reputation to be substantially mythical.^[35]

The rise in U.S. peanut production in the early 1900s was due to the following: ^[36]

• The boll weevil's devastation of cotton farming
• The growing popularity of peanut butter after John Harvey Kellogg began promoting it as a health food in the 1890s
• Introduction of a big-selling roasted peanut vending machine in 1901
• The start of major commercial production of peanut candy in 1901
• Introduction of a peanut picking machine in 1905
• Increased demand for peanut oil during World War I due to wartime shortages of other plant oils

Although his industrial uses of peanuts found no significant application in the U.S., Carver gave a peanut milk recipe to an African nurse in 1918. ^[21] In a letter written after Carver's death, the nurse claimed that in some parts of interior Africa, tigers and tsetse flies made it impossible to raise domestic animals as a source of milk. She related that peanut milk had saved the lives of hundreds of infants whose mothers were unable to nurse them. A problem with the story is that tigers are not native to Africa.

Despite a common claim that Carver never tried to profit from his inventions, Carver did market a few of his peanut products. None was successful enough to sell for long. The Carver Penol Company sold a mixture of creosote and peanuts as a patent medicine for respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis. Other ventures were The Carver Products Company and the Carvoline Company. Carvoline Antiseptic Hair Dressing was a mix of peanut oil and lanolin. Carvoline Rubbing Oil was a peanut oil for massages.

[edit] Sweet potato products

Next to peanuts, Carver is most associated with sweet potato products. In his 1922 sweet potato bulletin, Carver claimed 118 uses but only listed a few dozen recipes "many of which I have copied verbatim from Bulletin No. 129, U. S. Department of Agriculture"^[37] USDA Farmer's Bulletin 129 was written by David Montgomery Nesbit in 1901. When Raleigh Merritt reprinted Carver's sweet potato bulletin in his 1929 book, the acknowledgement of USDA Farmer's Bulletin 129 as the source of the recipes was omitted. Merritt's book also claimed that by 1928 Carver had "178 different and attractive products" made from sweet potato.^[23]

The list of Carver's sweet potato inventions compiled from Carver's records contains many multiple listings, such as 73 dyes, 17 wood fillers, 14 candies, 5 library pastes, 5 breakfast foods, 4 starches, 4 flours and 3 molasses. ^[38] When just the multiple listings are removed, there are only 40 uses. There are also some duplications such as vinegar and spiced vinegar, dry coffee and instant coffee and candy, after dinner mints, orange drops and lemon drops.

Some of the products also do not appear to be original to Carver, including such obvious products as dried sweet potato, flour, starch and sugar. The sweet potato was well known to be a good source of starch, flour and sugar before Carver began his studies. Gerard's 1633 Herbal (p. 926) mentioned that sweet potato roots "may serve as a ground or foundation whereupon the clever confectioner or sugar-baker may work and frame many comfortable delicate and restorative conserves and sweetmeats." Contrary to the popular perception that sweet potato was an obscure crop before Carver starting working with it, there were many books and agricultural bulletins on sweet potato in the 1890s and early 1900s. For instance, Carver's list of sweet potato products includes hog feed, which John Duggar of Auburn University had already written about in an 1898 bulletin on Peanuts, Cowpeas and Sweet Potatoes as Food for Pigs.

As with his peanut products, there seemed to be no written formulas for his industrial uses for sweet potato, such as paint, writing ink, shoe blacking, paper, medicine, synthetic silk, synthetic cotton and rubber compound. His 1918 bulletin #37, How to Make Sweet Potato Flour, Starch, Sugar Bread and Mock Cocoanut contains some formulas for basic food products and is partly reprinted in Merritt's book.^[23]

 ==Carver bulletins== During Carver's time at Tuskegee (over four decades), Carver's official published work consisted mainly of 44 practical bulletins for farmers.^[39] His first bulletin in 1898 was on feeding acorns to farm animals. His final bulletin in 1943 was about the peanut. He also published six bulletins on sweet potatoes, five on cotton and four on cowpeas. Some other individual bulletins dealt with alfalfa, wild plum, tomato, ornamental plants, corn, poultry, dairying, hogs, preserving meats in hot weather and nature study in schools.

His most popular bulletin, How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption, was first published in 1916^[40] and reprinted many times. It gave a short overview of peanut crop production but was mainly a list of recipes from other agricultural bulletins, cookbooks, magazines and newspapers, such as the Peerless Cookbook, Good Housekeeping and Berry's Fruit Recipes. Many people mistakenly believe that Carver created the 105 peanut recipes and that Carver was first to promote peanuts as a replacement crop for cotton. Carver's was far from the first American agricultural bulletin devoted to peanuts.^{[41][42][43][44][45]} Nor was it the first agricultural bulletin on peanut recipes, since Mrs. Jessie P. Rich of the University of Texas published "Uses of the Peanut on the Home Table" in 1915.^[46] It is notable that Carver's 1916 peanut bulletin did not mention any of the novel industrial uses for peanuts that he later advocated. His 1916 bulletin came right before U.S. peanut production peaked in 1917, and then declined. Peanut production did not reach the 1917 level again until 1927.

[edit] Beyond the Peanut Man legend

The life history and achievements of George Washington Carver have been exaggerated by many admirers, as is the case for many admired historical figures.

Perhaps the legend most often told to young children is that Carver "invented peanut butter." This legend, and the related legend that Carver invented 300-plus peanut products, derive from Carver's years of research into novel end-uses for southern crops other than cotton, whose monoculture was depleting southern soils. Carver himself made it clear that he used recipe books and other sources when compiling (for example) his booklet How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption. ^[47]

After Carver's death, lists were created of the plant products Carver compiled or originated. The number of items on such lists (for example, about 300 applications for peanuts) ^[32] have often been mis-stated as the number of items invented by Carver.

File:George Washington Carver-oil painting.jpeg

Carver oil painting

The legend that "Carver invented crop rotation" is a similar exaggeration of Carver's role promoting crop rotation in the post-Civil-War South. Carver's advocacy for crop rotation gave special stress to the nitrogen-replenishing role of legume crops like the peanut. He was not, however, the original discoverer of this feature of legume crops.

Another common legend is that Carver generously made his new plant products freely available for everyone to use and never tried to financially profit from them himself. Carver did not write down the formulas for most of his new plant products so other people could not make them. Carver started four companies that made and sold a few of his peanut products. All four companies soon failed.

Finally, there were many people other than Carver who played a part in the rescue of post-Civil-War southern agriculture from cotton monoculture.

[edit] Religion

While George Washington Carver is most widely recognized for his scientific contributions regarding the peanut, he is also often recognized as devoted Christian. God and science were both areas of intrigue, not warring ideas in the mind of George Washington Carver. Like many other devout Christians of his era, he accepted the Creation account given in the Book of Genesis as literal truth. ^[48] He testified on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science.^[49][50]

George Washington Carver became a Christian when he was ten years old. He heard about Sunday school from a white neighborhood boy while working in a barn. When he was told that they sang songs and prayed at Sunday school, he followed suit and prayed to God for the first time in the loft of that same barn.^[48] From this child-like beginning he matured in his faith by placing his understanding of God firmly in the Words of the Bible. ^[51][52] When he was still a young boy, he was not expected to live past his twenty-first birthday due to inconspicuously failing health. He used the diagnosis as an opportunity to exercise his trust in God and pushed forward. He lived well past the age of twenty-one and his trust in God's provision deepened as a result.^[53] Throughout his career, he always found friendship and safety in the fellowship of other Christians. He relied on them excedingly when enduring harsh criticism from the scientific community and newsprint media regarding his research methodology. ^[48][54]

Dr. Carver's faith was foundational in how he approached life. He viewed faith in Jesus as a means to destroying both barriers of racial disharmony and social stratification.^[55] For Dr. Carver, faith was an agent of change. It increased knowledge rather than competing against it. The greater his faith increased, the more he desired to learn. The more he learned, the greater his faith became.^[56] In attempts to teach his students, he defaulted first and foremost to the proclamation of Christ. He taught that knowledge of God through the Bible and devotion to Jesus were paramount to what he could teach them pedagogically through numbers and formulas.^[57] He was as concerned with his students' character development as he was with their intellectual development. He even compiled a list of eight cardinal virtues for his students to emulate and strive toward:

• Be clean both inside and out.
• Neither look up to the rich or down on the poor.
• Lose, if need be, without squealing.
• Win without bragging.
• Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
• Be too brave to lie.
• Be too generous to cheat.
• Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.^[6]

Carver also led a Bible class on Sundays while at Tuskegee, beginning in 1906, for several students at their request. In this class he would regularly tell the stories from the Bible by acting them out.^[6] Unconventional in respect to both his scientific method and his ambition as a teacher, he inspired as much criticism as he did praise.^[58] Dr. Carver expressed this sentiment in response to this phenomenon: "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."^[59]

The legacy of George Washington Carver's faith is included in many Christian book series for children and adults about great men and women of faith and the work they accomplished through their convictions respectively. One such series, the Sower series, includes his story along side such scientists as Isaac Newton, Samuel Morse, Johannes Kepler and the Wright brothers.^[60] Other Christian literary references include "Man’s Slave, God’s Scientist," by David R. Collins and the Heroes of the Faith series' book "George Washington Carver: Inventor and Naturalist" by Sam Wellman. He is also included in Christian and homeschooling curriculum in the history units as in Heroes of History: George Washington Carver along with Abraham Lincoln, David Livingstone, and Eric Liddell.

[edit] Trivia

• George Washington Carver Recognition Day is celebrated every January 5, on the day Carver died, because his birthdate is unknown.
• After Thomas Edison's death in 1931, Carver claimed in speeches that Edison offered him a job at the then huge salary of $100,000 or $200,000 per year depending on the speech. Carver earned about $1,000 per year when he started at Tuskegee. Edison's associates could never confirm the job offer.
• Carver was exceptionally frugal. He saved most of his yearly salary because his room and board were free.
• Carver lived on the second floor of a women's dormitory at Tuskegee and accessed his room via the fire escape.
• Carver was an unorthodox scientist. He claimed that God gave him the ideas for his plant products, and he never wrote down the formulas but kept them all in his head.
• Carver was often evasive when others requested more details on his inventions. When the Farm Security Administration asked for a list of Carver's peanut products, Carver replied "I do not attempt to keep a list, as a list today would not be the same tomorrow, if I am allowed to work on that particular product."
• Carver was a talented artist and exhibited two paintings at the 1893 World's Fair.
• Another of his hobbies was hybridizing ornamental bulbs of the genus Hippeastrum ^[61].
• Carver always had a flower or piece of living plant in his lapel and used it as a way to teach about the plant.
• Carver was a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. He was elected by its membership into its Distinguished Service Chapter. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Key on February 20, 1938.
• Carver was featured in an episode of the TV series American Dad called "Black Mystery Month", where his mistaken credit of the invention of peanut butter was planted by the Lincoln administration to spur anti-slavery sentiment.

[edit] Notes

1. ↑ Birth and death dates from the Notable Names Database
2. ↑ The first Jesup Wagon
3. ↑ McMurry, L.O. 1981. George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol. New York, Oxford University Press.
4. ↑ Smith, Andrew F. 2002. Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Anon. Nov. 24, 1941 "Black Leonardo", Time 38 (21): 81–82.
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Link Lookup
7. ↑ Pages 9-10 of George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol by Linda McMurry, 1982. New York: Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-503205-5)
8. ↑ Pages 45-47 of McMurry
9. ↑ Volume 5, page 481 of Harlan
10. ↑ Volume 5, page 504 of Harlan
11. ↑ Volume 8, page 95 of Harlan
12. ↑ Volume 10, page 480 of Harlan
13. ↑ Volume 12, page 95 of Harlan
14. ↑ Volume 12, pages 251-252 of Harlan
15. ↑ Volume 12, page 201 of Harlan
16. ↑ Volume 13, page 35 of Harlan
17. ↑ Volume 10, pages 592-596 of Harlan
18. ↑ Volume 4, page 239 of Harlan
19. ↑ Booker T. Washington, 1856-1915 My Larger Education: Being Chapters from My Experience
20. ↑ GWC | His Life in his own words
21. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Microsoft Word - Special History Study.doc
22. ↑ The legacy of George Washington Carver-Friends & Colleagues (Henry Wallace
23. ↑ ^{a b c} Raleigh Howard Merritt. From Captivity to Fame or The Life of George Washington Carver
24. ↑ Peanut Man - TIME
25. ↑ George Washington Carver National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
26. ↑ Change Without Revolution - TIME
27. ↑ USDA Hall of Heroes
28. ↑ George Washington Carver: Chemist, Teacher, Symbol
29. ↑ Mackintosh, Barry. 1977. George Washington Carver and the Peanut: New Light on a Much-loved Myth. American Heritage 28(5): 66-73. [1]
30. ↑ Carver, George Washington. 1916. How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption. Tuskegee Institute Experimental Station Bulletin 31. [2]
31. ↑ Page 88 of Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober Pea by Andrew F. Smith, 2002. Chicago: University of Illinois Press (ISBN 0-252-02553-9) [3]
32. ↑ ^{a b} List of By-Products From Peanuts By George Washington Carver (as compiled by the Carver Museum)
33. ↑ Core Historical Literature of Agriculture
34. ↑ Mackintosh, Barry. 1977. George Washington Carver and the Peanut: New Light on a Much-loved Myth. American Heritage 28(5): 66-73. [4]
35. ↑ Page 127 of The Booker T. Washington Papers, Volume 4 by Louis R. Harlan, Ed., 1975. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. ISBN (025201152X) [5]
36. ↑ Pages 412-413 of Crop Production : Evolution, History, and Technology. by C. Wayne Smith, 1995. New York: Wiley (ISBN 0-471-07972-3) [6]
37. ↑ How the Farmer Can Save His Sweet Potatoes, Geo. W. Carver
38. ↑ Carver Sweet Potato Products
39. ↑ List of Bulletins by George Washington Carver [7]
40. ↑ Carver, George Washington. 1916. "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption." Tuskegee Institute Experimental Station Bulletin 31. [8]
41. ↑ Handy, R.B. 1895. Peanuts: Culture and Uses. USDA Farmers' Bulletin 25.
42. ↑ Newman, C.L. 1904. Peanuts. Fayetteville, Arkansas: Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
43. ↑ Beattie, W.R. 1909. Peanuts. USDA Farmers' Bulletin 356.
44. ↑ Ferris, E.B. 1909. Peanuts. Agricultural College, Mississippi: Mississippi Agricultural Experiment Station.
45. ↑ Beattie, W.R. 1911. The Peanut. USDA Farmers' Bulletin 431.
46. ↑ Rich, J.P. 1915. Uses of the Peanut on the Home Table. Farmer's Bulletin 13. University of Texas, Austin.
47. ↑ George Washington Carver and the Peanut
48. ↑ ^{a b c} http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~etmcmull/CARVER.htm
49. ↑ Man of science-and of God: George Washington Carver believed that Providence guided his scientific investigations and that those investigations led to a better understanding of God and His handiwork. | The New American (January, 2004)
50. ↑ George Washington Carver - CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
51. ↑ George Washington Carver: Pocket Watch and Bible
52. ↑ http://www.mhmin.org/FC/fc-1293GeorgeC.htm
53. ↑ GWC | His Life in his own words
54. ↑ http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/n/Newman,Wilson_L.
55. ↑ Quotes From Dr. Carver | Page 2
56. ↑ Legends of Tuskegee: George Washington Carver-From Slave to Student
57. ↑ The Educational Theory of George Washington Carver
58. ↑ George Washington Carver
59. ↑ George Washington Carver Quotes
60. ↑ Whole Life Stewardship - Books
61. ↑ Harmon Collection

[edit] References

• Carver, George Washington. "1897 or Thereabouts: George Washington Carver's Own Brief History of His Life." George Washington Carver National Monument.
• Kremer, Gary R. (editor). 1987. George Washington Carver in His Own Words. Columbia, Missouri.: University of Missouri Press.
• McMurry, L. O. Carver, George Washington. American National Biography Online Feb. 2000
• George Washington Carver : Man’s Slave, God’s Scientist, Collins, David R., Mott Media, 1981)
• George Washington Carver: His Life & Faith in His Own Words (Hardcover) by William J. Federer Publisher: AmeriSearch (January 2003) ISBN-10: 0965355764
• George Washington Carver: In His Own Words (Paperback)by George W. Carver Publisher: University of Missouri Press; Reprint edition (January 1991) ISBN-10: 0826207855 ISBN-13: 978-0826207852
• H.M. Morris, Men of Science, Men of God (1982)
• E.C.Barnett & D.Fisher, Scientists Who Believe (1984)
• G.R. Kremer, George Washington Carver in His Own Words (1987)

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has related quotes by or about George Washington Carver

[edit] Tributes

• National Parks Service, Legends of Tuskegee: George Washington Carver
• American Chemical Society, National Historic Chemical Landmark
• National Parks Service, George Washington Carver National Monument
• Carver Homestead Monument - Beeler, Kansas
• Tuskegee University, Carver Tribute
• Iowa State University, The Legacy of George Washington Carver
• Photograph of George Washington Carver's Bible and pocketwatch at Tuskegee
• Template:Find A Grave
• Review article
• Profile of George Washington Carver - The Black Inventor Online Museum
• Guide to the George Washington Carver Letter to Dana H. Johnson. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.

[edit] Print Publications

• Peter D. Burchard, "George Washington Carver: For His Time and Ours," National Parks Service: George Washington Carver National Monument. 2006.

• Barry Mackintosh, "George Washington Carver and the Peanut: New Light on a Much-loved Myth," American Heritage 28(5): 66-73, 1977.
• Louis R. Harlan, Ed., The Booker T. Washington Papers, Volume 4, pp. 127-128. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 1975.
• Mark Hersey, "Hints and Suggestions to Farmers: George Washington Carver and Rural Conservation in the South," Environmental History April 2006
• George Washington Carver. "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption," Tuskegee Institute Experimental Station Bulletin 31, 1916.BAGEL!
• George Washington Carver. "How the Farmer Can Save His Sweet Potatoes and Ways of Preparing Them for the Table," Tuskegee Institute Experimental Station Bulletin 38, 1936.
• George Washington Carver. "How to Grow the Tomato and 115 Ways to Prepare it for the Table" Tuskegee Institute Experimental Station Bulletin 36, 1936.
• Raleigh H. Merritt, From Captivity to Fame or the Life of George Washington Carver, Boston: Meador Publishing. 1929.
• Linda O. McMurry, George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. [9][10]

+++++++++++++

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER'S VISION OF SUSTAINABILITY AND SOME EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES

Job S. Ebenezer, Ph.D.
Director
Environmental Stewardship and Hunger Education
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
8765 West Higgins Road
Chicago, IL 60631

 

October 1996

 

The United Nations (UN) report entitled "Our Common Future" introduced the concept of sustainable development to the world of politicians, economists, international development workers and religious community in 1987. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) convened in 1992 brought together bothgovernment representatives and the non governmental agencies in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to further develop this concept of global sustainability and to implement appropriateactions worldwide. Recently, several secular organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists recognizes the importance of religious communities in the discussions and practices of global sustainability. Increasingly, many scientists are realizing the need for applying moral values in dealing with the environment. They also recognize the fact the environmental degradation problem cannot be solved by applying more science and technology. Combination of religious teachings about creation and scientific knowledge of the biosphere will enable many to take care of God's creation which will pave way to global sustainability.

George Washington Carver, an outstanding scientist and a deeply religious person, promoted global sustainability several decades ago when he worked at the Tuskegee University in Alabama. He recognized long ago that sustainability can be achieved through combining science and faith. He applied religious values such as justice to the poor and to creation and humility and reverence towards God's creation in his scientific exploration. He firmly believed that through proper keeping of creation motivated by religious values one can achieve sustainability.

In this presentation, we will explore Carver's vision of global sustainability and we will describe a few sustainable technologies appropriate to present conditions that are inspired by Carver's work.

Carver was invited by Booker T. Washington, the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, to create a department of agricultural sciences. In his letter of acceptance, Carver expressed his desire to cooperate with Washington and do all he can through Christ who strengthens him to better the condition of our people. He recognized that a mono-culture, cotton, was degrading the soil and was also keeping the black farmers who were only one generation removed from slavery in poverty. In 1897, he established an experimental station with one horse to power all equipment. He wrote in one of his bulletins,

"For eight years the Tuskegee station has made the subject of soil improvement a special study, emphasizing the subject of crop rotation, deep plowing, terracing, etc., keeping in mind the poor tenant farmer with one-horse equipment; so therefore, every operation performed has been within his reach, the station having only one horse." 1

He applied the principles of loving one's neighbor and caring for the vulnerable persons to degraded and abused soil. He wrote an article in 1914 entitled "Being Kind to the Soil." In that article he observed,

"Unkindness to anything means an injustice to that thing. If I am unkind to you I do you an injustice, or wrong you in so me way. On the other hand, if I try to assist you in every way that I can to make a better citizen and in every way to do my very best for you, I am kind to you. The above principles apply with equal force to the soil. The farmer whose soil produces less every year, is unkind to it in some way; that is, he is not doing by it what he should; he is robbing it of some substance it must have, and he becomes, therefore, a soil robber rather than a progressive farmer." 2

He called on the farmers to use biblical teachings on Sabbath to the land in soil management. In a lecture to farmers in 1921, he noted,

"We take this very book, here - go way back here, almost to the beginning of time and we find.....the farmers were obliged to rest their lands and every fifty years was jubilee year. This was picnic time for the soil. Nothing must be taken off of it. Everything it produced was to go back to the soil. Now then, you know as well as I know that ever since that time we have heard such terms as diversify, diversify, diversify-rest your soil. We paid absolutely no attention to it." 3

Carver considered exploitation of land as sinful. An Atlanta newspaper quoted him as saying,

"Conservation is one of our big problems in this section. You can't tear up everything just to get the dollar out of it without suffering as result. It is a travesty to burn our woods and thereby burn up the fertilizer nature has provided for us. We must enrich our soil every year instead of merely depleting it. It is fundamental that nature will drive away those who commit sin against it." 4

Carver teaches us that in order to achieve global sustainability, we need to apply biblical principles of justice, love, frugality, creativity, and sacrifice even in the area of caring for God's creation.

Carver emphasized the "Divine inspiration" in his scientific exploration. In 1924, Carver expressed his reliance on divine inspiration in the following words,

"I never grope for methods; the method is revealed at the moment I am inspired to create something new. With our God to draw aside the curtain, I would be helpless." He was criticized by an anonymous editorial writer in the New York Times for Carver ascribing to divine inspiration for his success. But Carver stood his ground and responded to the editorial with these words,

"I regret exceedingly that such a gross misunderstanding should arise as to what was meant by Divine inspiration.' Inspiration is never at variance with information; in fact, the more information one has the greater will be the inspiration." 5

Nearly 70 years later, the Union of Concerned Scientists have recognized the need for including religious perspectives in caring for creation. A recent video produced by the Union of Concerned Scientist entitled "Keeping the Earth" uses passages from the scripture with scientific perspective on creation to challenge congregations to get involved in the care of creation. Christians who are involved in the environmental sciences should follow Carver in developing innovative solutions through Divine inspiration and by following biblical principles.

Carver's vision of global sustainability was grounded in his deep Christian faith. His reverence for all of God's creation and his humility were essential ingredients for establishing global sustainability. One of the most important aspects of Carver's philosophy regarding global sustaianability is hope. Hope based on the abundance of God's creation to fulfil the basic needs of God's creation. Carver demonstrated through his work that by using God given talents one can find multiple usage for even ordinary plants like peanuts, sweet potatoes and soy beans. Carver also showed us that as Christians we need to be concerned about the persons farthest down. Without justice for the poor, we cannot achieve global sustainability.

Following the vision and practices of Carver, several simple, appropriate technologies have been developed by the author during the last two decades. The following slides show a number of technologies that promote sustainability in the areas of urban agriculture, building techniques, and alternative energy.

Some Appropriate Technologies that can be Developed with Carver's Vision

1. Food Producing Technologies:

As many institutions have developed and are developing some extremely innovative food production systems, we will focus only on those technologies that others are not pursuing and which have potential to help the poor.

Urban Agriculture

It is estimated that in the next century more than 50% of the population will be living in urban areas. One of the consequences of the urbanization is the destruction of productive land all over the world. While it is necessary to slow down or even halt the destruction of productive agricultural lands, wet lands and other habitats for birds and animals, we need to look for innovative ways to grow food in the urban areas to decentralize food production and to reduce energy and other resources spent on transporting and processing food. At the churchwide offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), an experimental urban gardening is being tried on the seventh floor of the parking garage. Using 4' diameter wading pools, a variety of vegetables and fruits are grown in a 9" soil medium. Last year we produced 500 pounds of vegetable in 15 productive containers. It is estimated that each container can yield about 30 to 50 pounds of vegetable during the growing season. The seventh floor garage can hold about 600 such containers and therefore theoretically can yield between 9 to 15 tons of vegetables.

(SLIDES)

Urban aquaculture involving decentralized fish production is yet another system that can be promoted in cities. Unlike other animals fishes may not be barred from cities. They can be kept inside houses without endangering the health of human beings and they do not make noises or produce wastes that cannot be processed easily. The Ocean Ark International at Falmouth, Massachusetts has developed a suitable unit for urban conditions. By converting roofs or top floors of garages that are being underutilized to roof top gardens and fish farms, substantial amount of food can be raised in cities. These techniques also assures food security and safety.

2. Alternative Energy Technologies

One of the sustainable energy sources that does not get enough attention and publicity is the use of human energy for transportation and power production. The World Watch Institute has been promoting bicycle as the best urban transportation system which can reduce pollution and congestion. While bicycles are designed to be used for transportation, they can also be modified to produce power to operate small-scale agriculture and industrial implements. The author has designed an attachment to the bicycle that transforms the bicycle into a small power source to operate a rice thresher, a peanut sheller, a corn sheller, a water pump, grinders, a circular saw, a wood working lathe, and a small metal lathe.

(SLIDES)

3. Building Technologies

Sustainable building technologies have been developed through the centuries in several parts of the world. Rammed earth techniques from China, adobe (mud bricks) building technology from the Native American settlements in the Southwest US, and straw bale construction technology from the early settlers from Nebraska are examples of sustainable technologies that can be adapted to modern conditions and requirements. Recently, some people living in modern buildings are experiencing Multiple Chemical Sensitivity syndrome. It is suspected that the chemical used in the production of the building materials may be the cause for this sickness. There is a definite need to produce safe building products like wood stains, paints, and others. Carver was able to see in the clays of Georgia and Alabama the various color paints that could be made without harmful chemicals. There is so much that nature can give us in terms of building materials if only we can see like Carver did.

The author introduced plastered straw construction to Indian villages last year. Preliminary results show that locally grown non-edible straws can be used as building materials and that such use will reduce the burnt bricks, cement, and other energy intensive materials usage.

(SLIDES)

Today, the proponents of sustainable society realize that science and technology alone cannot establish sustainability and are beginning to give importance to religious beliefs and values. At the turn of this century Carver showed us the need for combining scientific exploration and one's faith. We see the effects of decades of separating faith and values from our daily life resulting in the increase of lawlessness, greed, poverty, violence, environmental degradation, and unsustainable life styles. The churches hurt by the creation and evolution controversy failed to provide vision and leadership based on the kingdom values in the area of environmental stewardship. Environmental degradation, poverty, and violence which all lead to unsustainable society need to be confronted with faith and moral values. Carver's vision and work which combined justice, humility, creativity and scientific exploration provide models for the church to follow as it strives to contribute to global sustainability.

References

1. George Washington Carver, "How to Build up Worn out Soils," Tuskegee Institute Experiment Station, Bulletin 6, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1905.

2. George Washington Carver, "Being Kind to the Soil," Negro Farms, January 31, 1914.

3. George Washington Carver, Stenographic Report of Lecture ar Voorhees Farms Conference, Voorhees Normal and Industrial School, Denmark, S.C., February 16, 1921.

4. James H. Cobb, Jr., "Ford and Carver Point South's Way," Atlanta Journal, March 17, 1940.

5. John Ferrel, Fruits of Creation: A Look at Global Sustainability as Seen Through the Eyes of George Washington Carver, Macalaster Park Publishing Company, Shakopee, Minnesota, 1994.

Carver, George Washington

By Aisha Anderson

Graduate Student, Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University

Biographical Highlights

He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world. Epitaph on the grave of George Washington Carver (quoted in American Experience 1980).

George Washington Carver (1860? - 1943) was an extraordinary individual, dedicated to lifelong learning and the practical application of the sciences. Through a blend of spiritual inspiration, artistic inclination and scientific talent, Carver made many contributions to this world and the environment, such as creating more than 300 peanut-based products, numerous developments for the sweet potato, and developing revolutionary crop rotation theories. His passion and service extended beyond the walls of a classroom, permeating the American South, by educating and empowering farmers in agricultural techniques. In addition to being a gifted teacher, researcher and innovator, Carver was known as a skilled artist, musician and gardener.

Carver was the first black man to study at Iowa State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in 1894. He was then appointed to the faculty and received his master's degree in agriculture and bacterial botany in 1896. Months later, he accepted an invitation, or rather a calling, to make his indelible mark at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he served for forty-seven years. This humble genius, who was often referred to as the "plant doctor" or the "peanut man," died in his sleep in Tuskegee on 5 January 1943. Shortly before his death, Carver donated his entire savings to the institute to found the Carver Research Foundation for research in agriculture.

Carver received a number of awards for his achievements. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Simpson College in 1928. He was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of London. He received the Theodore Roosevelt Medal for Valuable Contributions to Science and the Spingarn Medal for Distinguished Service in Agricultural Chemistry by the NAACP. Carver was honored with a United States commemorative postage stamp in both 1947 and 1998. He was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1977 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990. That same year, Iowa State awarded him a Doctor of Humane Letters. His birthplace in Diamond Grove, Missouri, is the first National Monument to honor an African American, a teacher, or even a scientist.

Historic Roots

George Washington Carver was born the second son to his mother, Mary. His birthdate was never recorded, through scholars think it was in the early 1860s. He was born into slavery during the Civil War and grew up on a plantation owned by Moses and Susan Carver. As an infant, night raiders (presumed members of the Ku Klux Klan) kidnapped both George and his mother. He was recovered, due to a request put forth by his slave owners, after being found abandoned in Arkansas. His mother, Mary, was never to be seen again and was presumed killed. Equally unfortunate was that his father (enslaved on a nearby plantation) was killed in a logging accident shortly after George's birth. The Carvers became surrogate parents to George, whose surname he took, although they never adopted him. As a sickly child, he spent many hours observing and collecting plants, flowers, rocks, and other natural objects that fascinated and captured his attention. The Carvers encouraged his thirst for knowledge, which prompted him to travel to different parts of the state, in search of schools that would educate blacks. At twelve, George left the couple, traveling to communities in Missouri and Kansas, working odd jobs until he received a high school education (Holt 1943; Elliot 1966).

Carver drifted from place to place in the hope of becoming college educated, experiencing hardships and rejection along the way, due to the color of his skin. While working as head cook at a hotel, he befriended one of the owners who shared a passion for art. The relationship opened a door to his admission into art school at Simpson College in Iowa in 1890. Torn between agriculture and art, witnessing the harsh realities of black artists, Carver chose a more vocational trade. He transferred to Iowa Agricultural College, now known as Iowa State College, where he majored in botany.

After teaching and graduating with a master's degree in 1896, Carver made a life-altering decision when he consented to head the agricultural department at Tuskegee Institute. Without having much needed resources or pay comparable to that he received in his former job, Carver used his imagination to "create living laboratories." He used available materials to create a makeshift lab. His passion encouraged his students to excel despite the odds.

Carver was sought after by noteworthy individuals, such as Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, because of the innovation and importance of his work. He never married, nor had children, but he left an eternal legacy to agriculture, science, and African-American higher education.

Importance

Carver, an Environmental Steward

Carver felt that the earth is "not just a treasure house to be ransacked and plundered and to be profited from. [It is] our home and a place of beauty and mystery and God's handiwork" (Stanley 1996, 55). This quote affirms that, as an environmental steward, Carver relied heavily on God's revelation for the simple purposes of things.

Carver made significant impact on how humans serve as stewards and conscientiously utilize the Earth's natural resources. As an agricultural researcher and a chemist, his creative inventions for new uses for common plants opened a door to natural and environmental benefits. His contributions to science were extensive. He developed over 300 commercial applications for peanuts, including milk, cheese, flour, ink, dyes, wood stains, soap, and cosmetics. In addition, Carver developed 118 uses for sweet potatoes, including vinegar, molasses, rubber, ink, and postage stamp glue. His technique of rotating crops was beneficial for soil conservation not only in the South, but across the nation and world. He also extracted the brilliance of colors available in Alabama clay and earth, making paints (Stanley 1996).

Carver's ideas about nature and earth led to developments that revolutionized agriculture in the South. His techniques for crop rotation enlightened Southern farmers on how to cooperate with natural laws, thereby allowing them to grow better crops, prevent erosion and improve production. He discovered that through crop rotation, using peanuts, soybeans and cowpeas, nitrogen was replenished in the soil.

Carver, the Teacher

I have been preparing myself for these many years; feeling as I do that this line of education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom to our people. George Washington Carver (quoted in Elliott 1966, 104)

As a passionate and humble teacher, George Washington Carver affected many lives and generations. Booker T. Washington requested Carver to assume the position of Director and Instructor of Scientific Agriculture and Dairy Science at Tuskegee Institute. Tuskegee was a school that had attracted many black students from the South, emphasizing vocational skills that would be useful for teaching, technicians and farming.

Carver's dedication as a teacher was demonstrated when he turned down the opportunity to work with Thomas Edison for a $100,000 yearly salary (Kremer 1987). This generous salary would have been a great incentive for many people at the time, but not for Carver, who earned $125 a month during his nearly half a century of work at Tuskegee Institute. Not discouraged by the lack of resources at Tuskegee, Carver viewed his professorship as a calling, a challenge, and an opportunity to uplift his people. Although he was told he was dealing with the worst soil in Alabama, through his resourcefulness, Carver and his students produced a profitable crop every year (after his first year). People from all over the world, including Russia, Poland, China, Japan, India, and Africa came to Tuskegee Institute to listen to Dr. Carver's techniques of agriculture and his successful experiences in the rural South. His achievements at Tuskegee helped African Americans gain respect in the fields of science and technology.

Carver, the Southern Farmer's Friend

Frustrated with the lack of hope displayed by many black Southern farmers, George Washington Carver began the Farmers Institute. He selflessly shared his knowledge with the rural farmer - insights of the land and how it operated with nature. He reached day laborers, sharecroppers and tenant farmers through his movable school on wheels. With his "Tuskegee Wagon," Carver visited those who were willing to listen, teaching insights that extended their understanding of farming beyond their natural survival mentality, including land conservation techniques. While he provided food for their soul, Carver also fed them. This gave him a natural opportunity to teach nutrition information, advocating the benefits of fresh fruit and vegetables. He also offered home improvement ideas and medicinal advice, such as the cure for pellagra. Carver was most pleased with the humble beginnings of the movable school, once operated by a rickety mule-drawn cart. It later became known as the "Jesup Agricultural Wagon," a fully equipped traveling experiment station (Elliot 1966).

Carver, the Advocate

George Washington Carver was an agriculturalist advocate when the need arose. He spoke on behalf of Congress, to the House Ways and Means Committee, as a supporting witness on a pending bill that proposed to place a tariff on the peanut. Also, when the United Peanut Association of America was formed, the group asked Carver to represent them on the 1921 congressional committee in Washington. Carver was adamantly against the exploitation of land, which he felt depleted the nature God had provided (Stanley 1996).

Ties to the Philanthropic Sector

"It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success." George Washington Carver (as quoted at GWCNM "Carver's Quotes")

The degree of Carver's impact extends beyond his agricultural contributions, encompassing his service to help others obtain a higher quality of life. Carver contributed to the economic improvement of the Southern farmer by offering alternative crops beneficial to them and their land. He brightened the homes of impoverished men and women throughout the South and gave hope to the next generation of farmers. As a teacher, Carver used a personal, hands-on method and was not limited by the walls of a classroom. Yet, his vision extended beyond his students and Southern rural farmers to the national and international communities. He strived to help his students to view the world as one.

Though Carver prides his success on service, his environmental contributions were substantial. He conscientiously utilized bio-based products and industrial products made from renewable resources rather than those made from scarce or non-renewable resources. Environmentally, his contributions were viewed by some as an agricultural revolution (Stanley 1996; Holt 1943). He was an extraordinary man who recognized the natural relationships of living things, both plants and people.

He was a deeply religious man who treasured the world of nature and saw himself as a vehicle by which the secrets of nature could be understood and harnessed for the good of mankind. That was his mission in life, and his reward for performing this mission was the simple knowledge that he was performing well God's will. (Kremer 1987, 17)

When Carver died in 1943, he was still earning the same $125 a month he had agreed to as an acceptable income forty-seven years prior; he had refused to accept a single increase in salary. When asked why, Carver humbly responded, "What would I do with more money? I already have all the earth" ( George Washington Carver 1980). Carver's explicit desire was to serve and uplift his people. He declined lucrative career opportunities with other institutions, to keep his commitment of sharing knowledge with the poor black farmer. He was committed to making an impact, which he did for his people, his students, the scientific community, farmers, community members, policy makers, and food consumers around the world.

Key Related Ideas

• Agricultural chemist : A scientist specializing in chemistry and the science, art, and business of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock; farmer
• Botanist : One who specializes in the study of plants
• Crop rotation : The agricultural process of growing different types of crops at different seasons to replenish the soil
• Environmentalist : One who advocates for, or works toward, protecting the natural environment from destruction or pollution.
• Inventor
• Researcher
• Teacher
• Scientist

Important People Related to the Topic

Morris K. Jesup was a New York philanthropist who made his money in banking and manufacturing. Jesup donated the funds necessary to upgrade Carver's movable learning cart to a mobile teaching wagon, which he used to educate Southern farmers about agricultural techniques. His movable school became known as the Jesup Agricultural Wagon.

President Theodore Roosevelt (1830-1908) was the twenty-sixth President of the United States of America. George Washington Carver advised him on racial problems and policies. In 1939, Carver 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" (Elliott 1966, 221).

Henry A. Wallace was elected Vice President of the United States in 1940, under President Roosevelt. As a student and mentee of Dr. Carver at Iowa State University, Wallace was intrigued by his teaching, which sparked his lifelong interest in plant genetics. Wallace was also the founder of the largest seed corn company in the world, Pioneer Hybrid.

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was the founder and head of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for black students, established in 1897 in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was one of the most influential black leaders and educators of his time and extended the invitation for Carver to lead the agricultural department at Tuskegee Institute, a school that advocated vocational education.

Related Nonprofit Organizations

The Carver Research Foundation was formed in 1940 to conduct agricultural research at Tuskegee Institute. Currently, the university's multimillion-dollar Carver Research Foundation and George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station received worldwide attention through noted research activities in agriculture, the natural sciences, and other pure and applied sciences.

The George Washington Carver Museum was authorized by the trustees of Tuskegee Institute in 1938 at the request of its president, Frederick D. Patterson. The Carver Museum was dedicated by President Henry Ford in 1941. It houses Dr. Carver's extensive collections of native plants, minerals, birds and vegetables; his products created from the peanut, sweet potato and various clays; and his numerous paintings, drawings, and textile art. Also on display are plaques, medals and artistic work created in tribute to Dr. Carver.

The George Washington Carver National Monument , preserved by the National Park Service, is located in Diamond, Missouri. The setting includes the 1881 Historic Moses Carver house and the Carver cemetery. His birthplace was designated a national monument, the first honor bestowed to a black person, on 14 July 1943.

The George Washington Carver Outdoor School was developed in 1990 to help young people develop a rapport with nature and to better understand themselves and their relationship to the world around them. The city-wide nonprofit school allows children exposure to the outdoors, including activities that foster respect for nature, such as hiking expeditions and camping trips.

Tuskegee Institute was established in 1880 by an act of the Alabama State Legislature. The school's first President, Dr. Booker T. Washington, officially opened the Normal School for Colored Teachers on 4 July 1881, which later became known as the Tuskegee Institute.

Related Web Sites

The College of Agriculture - Iowa State Fair exhibit section of the Iowa State University's Web site , at http://www.ag.iastate.edu/carver.html , presents a celebration of the legacy of its first African-American student and faculty member, George Washington Carver.

The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences Web site , at
http://www.princeton.edu/~mcbrown/display/faces.html , provides general historical background on African-American men and women who have contributed to the advancement of science and engineering. The site contains a synopsis of Carver's contributions and patented inventions. It also provides a list of reference materials for further research on Carver, at http://www.princeton.edu/~mcbrown/display/carver.html .

George Washington Carver National Monument Web site provides information on the national park dedicated to George Washington Carver and includes his boyhood home located just outside of Diamond, Missouri. The site contains biographical information, photographs, Carver quotes, and information on the 210-acre park. Visit at http://www.nps.gov/gwca/ .

The National Inventors Hall of Fame Web site presents Carver's accomplishments, biography, and the impact of his inventions. See " George Washington Carver" entry at http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/30.html .

The National Park Service: Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site Web site , at
http://www.nps.gov/tuin/ , provides a direct link to the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, located on the campus of present day Tuskegee University, which became a part of the National Park System in 1974.

Tuskegee University Web site , at http://www.tuskegee.edu , provides i nformation about current students, faculty and programs, as well as a tribute to Carver in the "History and Archives" section.

Bibliography and Internet Sources

Albus, Harry J. The Peanut Man . Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949.

American Experience . "George Washington Carver." PBS, 1980.

Borth, Christy. Pioneers of Plenty: The Story of Chemurgy . Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1939.

Dies, Edward Jerome. Titans of the Soil . Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1949.

Elliott, Lawrence. George Washington Carver: The Man Who Overcame . Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1966.

Erbach, Donald C. and Frank Flora. "Biobased products: America's second green revolution, " Agricultural Research 50 (2002): 2.

The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences. "Homepage." Princeton University. http://www.princeton.edu/~mcbrown/display/faces.html .

Ferrell, John S. Fruits of Creation: A Look at Global Sustainability as Seen through the Eyes of George Washington Carver . Shakopee, Minn.: Macalester Park Publishing Co., 1995.

George Washington Carver National Monument. "Carver Quotes." National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/gwca/expanded/quotes.htm .

Haber, Louis. Black Pioneers of Science and Invention . New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1970.

Holt, Rackham. George Washington Carver: An American Biography. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1943.

Kitchens, John W. and Lynne B. Kitchens, eds. Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the George Washington Carver papers at Tuskegee Institute . Tuskegee, Alabama: Tuskegee Institute, 1975. (Guide accompanies #1-67 microfilm reels.)

Klein, Aaron E. Hidden Contributors: Black Scientists and Inventors in America . Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1971.

Kremer, Gary R., ed. George Washington Carver in His Own Words . Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri, 1987. ISBN: 0826207855 (1991 paperback).

McMurry, Linda O. George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol . New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.

Means, Florence Crannell. Carver's George: A Biography of George Washington Carver . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1952.

Miller, Basil William. George Washington Carver: God's Ebony Scientist . Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1943.

Podesta, James J. "George Washington Carver, 1861(?)-1943." In Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community , edited by Barbara Carlisle Bigelow. Detroit: Gale Group, 1994. ISBN: 0810385589.

Stanley, Phyllis M. American Environmental Heroes. Springfield, New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, 1996. ISBN: 0894906305.

This paper was developed by a student taking a Philanthropic Studies course taught at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. It is offered by Learning To Give and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.
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A struggling peanut plant growing in heavy Alabama clay; a poor, black orphan with no material resources; an ancient pecan tree standing solitary sentry in a Georgia field: Many people would consider these at best mundane, at worst pitiable. But George Washington Carver, eminent researcher and educator, saw in all of these, and in much more, the very hand of God.

God's Little Workshop

The ability to discern the infinite in both the animate and inanimate objects of his very finite world was one of Carver's unique hallmarks. In an age where scientists had begun to view science and religion as mutually exclusive, Carver stood out for his insistence that science provides proof of God's existence. He was fond of paraphrasing the eighth chapter, 32nd verse of the Gospel of John, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," as, "And you shall know science and science shall set you free, because science is truth." Or, more simply, "Science is simply the truth about anything."

Carver's chemistry laboratory at Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, where he investigated the chemical properties and economic possibilities of peanuts, pecans, clay, soybeans, sweet potatoes and other substances, was filled with vials, bottles, and insect, plant, mushroom and flower collections. He often referred to his lab as "God's little workshop." He did not consider himself a scientific genius--that is, he did not take credit for discovering one or another product. Instead, he considered himself a conduit for divine inspiration and revelation: "[I] ask the Great Creator ... to permit me to speak to Him through the three great Kingdoms of the world, which He has created, viz.--the animal, mineral and vegetable Kingdoms."

Nor was Carver reticent about how he worked. In 1924, he spoke to an audience at a church in New York City, saying "I never have to grope for methods: the method is revealed at the moment I am inspired to create something new." The New York Times, strongly disagreeing with Carver's…

 

Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities

Global Stewardship Initiative

 

\hints and suggestions TO FARMERS: GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER AND RURAL CONSERVATION IN THE SOUTH

MARK HERSEY

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ABSTRACT

His reputation as "the Peanut Man" notwithstanding, George Washington Carver was very much a part of the nascent conservation movement during the Progressive Era. From the Tuskegee Institute, he sought to persuade black farmers that altering their environmental behavior could mitigate, to some extent, the economic and political vicissitudes they faced as a result of their race. His campaign on behalf of impoverished black farmers provides an instructive case study of how one strand of Progressive conservation was undone by its failure to adequately navigate the intersection of the South's land use and social and political institutions.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER remains a staple of elementary and junior high school social-studies classes, but academic historians have paid scant attention to him in recent decades. Indeed, the last time Carver excited much interest among them was during the 1970s when they debunked his reputation as a scientist and recast him as an Uncle Tom for his relative silence on racial injustice in the nation.1 In 1981, Linda O. McMurry rectified this depiction to a considerable extent in her excellent and balanced biography, George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol. With its publication, historians seemingly considered the matter closed.2 Most apparently agreed with David Herbert Donald's conclusion that Carver was "no longer part of our usable past."3	1
Such a conclusion is short-sighted for many reasons, most especially because these critiques of Carver were directed more at the myths surrounding him than his actual achievements. The mythical Carver was "the Peanut Man," a cultural icon that emphasized and inflated his scientific discoveries and obscured the legitimate reasons for historians to consider him.4 In the swirl of accolades and tributes that had accompanied his rise to fame as a "creative chemist," much of Carver's lasting significance had been lost.	2
The dearth of interest in Carver among environmental historians is particularly lamentable. Carver spent the better part of his life thinking about the interaction of people and the natural world and making contributions to the development of sustainable agricultural techniques, but environmentalists remain only vaguely aware of his environmental vision. Believing it to be "fundamental that nature will drive away those who com-mit sins against it," Carver attempted to persuade southerners that their region's economic salvation lay in the adoption of more sustainable agricultural methods. (Despite his depiction as an Uncle Tom figure, he in fact took subtle jabs at the Jim Crow institutions of the South when he enjoined southern farmers to "be kind to the soil," reminding them that "unkindness to any-thing means an injustice done to that thing."5) His particular concern was the plight of impoverished black farmers in the region, and over the course of his first decades at Tuskegee Institute, he waged a campaign aimed at persuading them that they could defend themselves against the economic and political vicissitudes they faced as a result of their race by turning to the natural environment. Consequently, Carver offers a unique lens through which historians can catch a glimpse of Progressive-era efforts to navigate the intersection of land use, race, and poverty in the rural South as part of the larger conservation movement.	3
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Essential facts about George Washington Carver, as well as a very extensive reading list!

 

	Born near Diamond Grove, Missouri, probably in 1864 but possibly as early as 1861. Youngest of 1 sister, 2 brothers. Slave father Giles died before birth. Slave mother Mary kidnapped during George's infancy. Raised by Moses and Susan Carver. As youth attended African Methodist and Presbyterian churches. Childhood distinctions: ingenious, restless. Never married. 1874 had mystical experience with pocketknife. 1875 moved to Neosho to begin school. 1877 moved to Fort Scott, Kansas. 1879 left Fort Scott after black man lynched. 1880 lived Minneapolis, Kansas, through high school. 1885 refused admission by Highland College. 1886 homesteaded in Ness County, Kansas. 1890 abandoned homestead, entered Simpson College (Iowa). 1891 entered Iowa State. 1892 won awards for painting. 1893 first scientific paper: 'Grafting the Cacti'. 1894 graduated college. 1896 Master's Degree Botany (Iowa State), accepted position Tuskegee Institute (Alabama). 1903 began classic studies on peanut. 1906 started 'Jesup Agricultural Wagon'. 1915 Booker T. Washington died. 1916 international recognition (Royal Fellow of Britain). 1921 dazzled U.S. Congress with presentation on peanuts. 1923 Springarn Medal. 1924 lambasted by liberal papers for religious beliefs. 1930's as national figure broke color barrier by speaking in many southern white colleges. 1938 health began to fail. 1939 opened his Tuskegee museum. 1942 fall worsened health. Died January 5, 1943, in Tuskegee, where he is buried.

	Go to anecdotes on George Washington Carver's...                                                                                                Humanity                                                                 Wart (or flaw)                                                                 Failure                                                                 Defining Moment          Go to this page to learn five values that made him a hero of history.          Go to this page to find links to other websites about this hero.          Go to this page to give your opinion of this hero.

 

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	BY GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER: Kremer, G. R. (ed.), George Washington Carver: In His Own Words. Columbia:        PB      Univ. of Missouri Press, 1987.           Many scientific publications exist but may be difficult to find. 1893 'Grafting the Cacti', in Transactions Iowa Horticulture Society. 1894 'Best Bulbs for the Amateur', in Transactions Iowa Horticulture Society. 1894 'Plants modified by man', Senior thesis Iowa State university. 1895 (with L. H. Pammel) 'Fungus Diseases of Plants at Ames, Iowa,' Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science.           Among his 44 years of Tuskegee Institute Experimental Station papers are the following: 1898 Bulletin 1: Feeding Acorns. 1898 Bulletin 2: Experiments with Sweet Potatoes. 1901 Bulletin 3: Fertilizer Experiments with Cotton. 1902 Bulletin 4: Some Cercosporae of Macon County, Alabama. 1903 Bulletin 5: Cow Peas. 1905 Bulletin 6: How to Build Up Worn Out Soils. 1906 Bulletin 8: Successful Yields of Small Grains. 1906 Bulletin 10: Saving the Sweet Potato. 1907 Bulletin 12: Saving the Wild Plum Crop. 1909 Bulletin 16: Some Ornamental Plants of Macon County, Alabama. 1910 Bulletin 18: Nature Study and Gardening for Rural Schools. 1911 Bulletin 21: White and Color Washing with Native Clays from Macon County, Alabama. 1912 Bulletin 24: The Pickling and Curing of Meat in Hot Weather. 1913 Bulletin 25: A Study of the Soils of Macon County...and Their Adaptability to Certain Crops. 1915 Bulletin 27: When, What and How to Can and Preserve Fruits and Vegetables in the Home. 1916 Bulletin 31: How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human                 Consumption. 1916 Bulletin 32: Three Delicious Meals Every Day for the Farmer. 1917 Bulletin 33: Twelve Ways to Meet the New Economic Conditions Here in the South. 1918 Bulletin 36: How to Grow the Tomato and 115 Ways to Prepare It for the Table. 1918 Bulletin 37: How to Make Sweet Potato Flour, Starch, Sugar, Bread and Mock Cocoanut. 1927 Bulletin 39: How to Make nd Save Money on the Farm. 1935 Bulletin 40: The Raising of Hogs, One of the Best Ways to Fill the Empty Dinner Pail. 1936 Bulletin 41: Can Livestock Be Raised Profitably in Alabama? 1936 Bulletin 42: How to Build Up and Maintain the Virgin Fertility of Our Soils. 1942 Bulletin 43: Nature's Garden for Victory and Peace.           Many articles (especially on peanuts) are in Peanut Journal and similar trade journals. ABOUT THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER: Burchard, Peter, George Washington Carver: A Great Soul. Serpent Wise, 1998.        PB Burchard, Peter, large George Washington Carver (major biography not yet published). Calhoun, William G. (ed.), Fort Scott: A Pictorial History.Bourbon County                  PB      Historic Preservation Assoc., 1978.              Centennial Committee, History of Ottawa County, Kansas, 1864-1984.       Centennial Committee, 1984. Clark, Glenn, The Man Who Talks With Flowers: the  Life Story of Dr. George      Washington Carver. Macalester Pub., 1939. Dick, Everett, The Sod-house Frontier, 1854-1890.  New York:D. Appleton-Century    PB      Company, 1937.  Elliott, Lawrence, George Washington Carver: The Man Who Overcame.                        PB      Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.  Holt, Rackham, George Washington Carver: An American Biography. New York:      PB      Doubleday and Co., 1943. Johnston, Sir Harry, The Negro in the New World, 1910. Lupton, Frank, Farmer's & Housekeeper's Cyclopaedia, 1888. New York: F. M.          PB      Lupton, 1888. Reprint Crossing Press, 1977. McMurry, Linda O., George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol. New York:    PB      Oxford University Press, 1981. Millbrook, Minnie D., History of Ness, Western County, Kansas. Detroit, 1955. Miner, Craig, West of Wichita: Settling the High Plains of Kansas, 1865-1890.            PB      Univ. Press of Kansas, 1986. Perry, John, Unshakable Faith: Booker T. Washington and George Washington      HC      Carver, a Biography. Multnomah, 1999. Reude, Howard, Sod-house Days: letters from a Kansas homesteader, 1877-78.          HC      Columbia Un. Press, 1937. Smith, Alvin D., George Washington Carver: Man of God. NewYork: Exposition      Press, 1954. Toogood, Anna C., Historic Resource Study and Administrative History, George      Washington Carver National Monument, Diamond, Missouri. Denver, 1973. Trexler, Harrison A., Slavery in Missouri, 1804-1865. AMS Press, 1982.                          HC Wallace, Henry A., The Reminiscences of Henry Wallace.                                                      PB Washington, Booker T., My Larger Education.  New York: Doubleday, 1911                  PB      Company, Inc., 1911. Washington, Booker T., Up From Slavery.  New York: Doubleday, 1900.            HC      PB Wellman, Sam. George Washington Carver. Barbour, 1998.                                    HC      PB Winters, Donald L., Henry Cantwell Wallace, as Secretary of Agriculture,                   PB      1921-1924. Yearbook of Agriculture, After A Hundred Years.  Washington, D.C.: U. S. Dept.      Agriculture, 1962.           Many very significant first-hand sources remain unpublished: Guzman, Jessie P., 'Investigative Trip Interview Notes', 1948 manuscript in GWC Papers      at Tuskegee Institute Archives. Fuller, Robert P. and Merrill J. Mattes, 'The Early Life of George Washington Carver', 1957      manuscript in GWC Papers at Tuskegee Institute Archives. Crisp, Lucy Cherry, 'Notes of Interview with George Washington Carver': manuscript  (undated      but 1930's) in Lucy Cherry Crisp Papers in East Carolina MS Collection, Greenville, N. C.. Carver, George Washington, 'Written Responses to Questionaire by Crisp', undated manuscript      in Lucy Cherry Crisp Papers in East Carolina MS Collection, Greenville, N. C.. Milholland, Mrs., 'Notes on George Washington Carver', undated manuscript in Lucy Cherry      Crisp Papers in East Carolina MS Collection, Greenville, N. C..
In 1921 when George Washington Carver testified on uses of the peanut before the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives the Committee Chairman grudgingly granted him 10 minutes. But not only was George a spell-binding speaker - mixing humor and fact with perfect timing - he had developed 300 uses of the peanut. Two hours later George finished his presentation to thunderous applause!

http://www.heroesofhistory.com/page11.html

 

George Washington Carver

1864-1943

George Washington Carver The Man, The Scientist, The Genius (DVD) $20.00 Top of Form Bottom of Form

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Occupation - Agricultural chemist

Awards - Spingarn Medal of the NAACP, 1923; Theodore Roosevelt Medal, 1939.

Narrative Essay

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) started his life as a slave and ended it as a respected and world-renowned agricultural chemist.

Born in Kansas Territory near Diamond Grove, Mo., during the bloody struggle between free-soilers and slaveholders, George Washington Carver became the kidnap victim of night riders. With his mother and brother, James, he was held for ransom; but before they could be rescued the mother died. Merely a babe in arms, Carver was ransomed for a $300 racehorse by Moses Carver, a German farmer. Thus he was orphaned and left in the custody of a white guardian from early childhood.

Carver had responsibility for his own education. His first school was in Neosho, Iowa, some 9 miles from his home. Neosho had once been a Confederate capital; by now it had become the site of the Lincoln School for African American children. With James he walked there every day. His first teacher was an African American, Stephen S. Frost. He and his brother went faithfully to school for several years. Finally James tired of formal schooling and quit to become a house painter, but not George. He continued until he was 17. Then he went on to complete his high school work in Minneapolis, Kans.

Carver really wished to become an artist. His sketch of the rose Yucca gloriosa won him a first prize at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893).

Carver applied to study at the Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts but was turned down when it was learned that he was of African heritage. He then applied to Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, where he was the second African American to be admitted. Tuition was $12 a year, but even this small amount was hard to come by. Carver raised the money by working as a cook at a hotel in Winterset, Iowa.

After 3 years' attendance at Simpson College, he once again applied for admission to Iowa State. He was admitted and was placed in charge of the greenhouse of the horticultural department while doing graduate work. He earned his master's degree in agriculture in 1896.

In April 1896 Carver received a unique offer from the African American educator Booker T. Washington to teach at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Said Dr. Washington: "I cannot offer you money, position or fame. The first two you have. The last from the position you now occupy you will no doubt achieve. These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place: work--hard, hard work, the task of bringing a people from degradation, poverty, and waste to full manhood. Your department exists only on paper and your laboratory will have to be in your head."

Carver accepted the challenge. He arrived at the tiny railroad station at Chehaw, Ala., on Oct. 8, 1896. In a report to Dr. Washington he wrote: "8:00 to 9:00 A.M., Agricultural Chemistry; 9:20 to 10:00 A.M., the Foundation of Colors (for painters); 10:00 to 11:00 A.M., a class of farmers. Additional hours in the afternoon. In addition I must oversee and rather imperfectly supervise seven industrial classes, scattered here and there over the grounds. I must test all seeds, examine all fertilizers, based upon an examination of soils in different plots."

Through the years Carver was gaining national and international stature. Chinese and Japanese farmers raised many unique problems for him. Questions were referred to him from Russia, India, Europe, South America. He later had to turn down a request to journey to the Soviet Union. In 1916 he was elected a member of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts in England; he went to Washington to the War Department to demonstrate his findings on the sweet potato in 1918. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP in 1923.

An early close friend of Carver was Henry A. Wallace; the pair knew each other for 47 years. Wallace said that Carver often took him on botanical expeditions, and it was he who first introduced Wallace to the mysteries of plant fertilizers. Carver was a shy and modest bachelor. An attack of whooping cough as a child had permanently caused him to have a high-pitched tenor voice. He considered it a high duty to attend classes and was seldom absent. In 1908 he returned to the West to visit his 96-year-old guardian, Moses Carver, and to visit the grave of his brother, James, in Missouri.

A careful and modest scientist, Carver was not without a sense of humor. When one of his students, hoping to play a trick on him, showed him a bug with wings of a fly and body of a mosquito, Carver was quick to label it "a humbug."

Carver utilized the materials at hand. He was interested in crop rotation and soil conservation. From the clay soil of Alabama he extracted a full range of dyestuffs, including a brilliant blue. He created 60 products from the pecan. From the common sweet potato he extracted a cereal coffee, a shoe polish, paste, oils--about 100 products. From the peanut he developed over 145 products. Carver suggested peanuts, pecans, and sweet potatoes replace cotton as money crops. He published all of his findings in a series of nearly 50 bulletins.

The testimony of Carver before the congressional House Ways and Means Committee in 1921 led to the passage of the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Bill of 1922. Scheduled to speak a scant 10 minutes, he was granted several time extensions because of the intense interest in his presentation. (He appeared in a greenish-blue suit many seasons old, having refused to invest in a new suit: "They want to hear what I have to say; they will not be interested in how I look.")

In 1935 Carver was chosen to collaborate with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He received the Theodore Roosevelt Medal in 1939 for distinguished achievement in science. During his lifetime Carver had made many friends. Henry Ford was his frequent host. Carver was a treasured friend of Thomas A. Edison. It was Edison who offered to make him independent with his own laboratories and an annual stipend of $50,000. Other intimates of his were Luther Burbank, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs. He was also a friend of three presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Dr. Carver had earned the salary of $125 a month from the beginning until the end of his service at Tuskegee. He might have had much more. In 1940 he gave his life-savings, $33,000, to establish the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee Institute to perpetuate research in agriculture and chemistry. He later bequeathed his entire estate to the foundation, making a total of about $60,000. He died on Jan. 5, 1943.

At the dedication of a building in his honor at Simpson College, Dr. Ralph Bunche, Nobel Prize winner, pronounced Dr. Carver to be "the least imposing celebrity the world has ever known." Dr. Carver's birthplace was made a national monument on July 14, 1953.

Sources

Of the many studies of Carver the best is Rackham Holt, George Washington Carver: An American Biography (1943). Also useful is Shirley Graham and George D. Lipscomb, Dr. George Washington Carver, Scientist (1944).

Biography Resource Center

Tainted CEO won’t talk peanuts to Congress; George Washington Carver was proud to

By Chris Steller 2/13/09 9:08 AM

G.W. Carver. Photo: NPS

When Peanut Corp. of America CEO Stewart Parnell took the Fifth this week instead of telling the House Committee on Energy and Commerce why he let salmonella-tainted peanut butter kill eight people (so far) and sicken thousands, the setting was ironic.

It was before another House committee (Ways and Means) in 1921 that the peanut’s greatest promoter, George Washington Carver, sprung onto the national scene with willing, winning, inventive testimony that helped propelled the lowly product of the South to prominence and many uses in the food industry. 

It was a different story on Wednesday: Parnell cemented his status as a pariah to the food industry and beyond with his repeated refusal to answer the committee’s questions about what he knew of his plants’ poisoned peanuts and the suffering his company has caused:

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your question based on the protection afforded me under the United States Constitution.

Parnell’s appearance took place in a committee hearing room in Washington, D.C. So did Carver’s, 88 years earlier. But in every other way the scene this week couldn’t have been farther from Carver’s triumphant Jan. 21, 1921, debut on the national stage on behalf of the peanut.

One striking note: After demonstrating dozens of uses for the peanut, Carver made this now-portentous-sounding claim:

I do not know of a single case — that is, I mean [a] normal [person] — that complains because peanuts hurt them.

A transcript of his testimony appears in a 1991 book called “George Washington Carver: In His Own Words,” and all but two of 12 pages can be read online. Here are a few excerpts from his charming remarks (even in the face of racist digs):

Mr. CARVER: Mr. Chairman, I have been asked by the United Peanut Growers’ Association to tell you something about the possibility of the peanut … [T]he peanut comes in, I think, for one of the most remarkable crops … [I]t has possibilities that we are just beginning to find out.

This is the crushed cake … which may be used in all sorts of combinations — for flours and meals and breakfast foods and a great many things that I have not time to touch upon just now…. This is another confection. It is peanuts covered with chocolate. As I passed through Greensboro, S.C, I noticed in one of the stores that this was displayed on the market, and, as it is understood better, more of it is going to be made up into this form. Here is a breakfast food. I am very sorry that you can not taste this, so I will taste it for you. [Laughter] Now this is a combination and, by the way, one of the finest breakfast foods that you or anyone else has ever seen. It is a combination of the sweet potato and the peanut, and if you will pardon a little digression here I will state that the peanut and the sweet potato are twin brothers and cannot and should not be separated. They are two of the greatest products that God has ever given us.

Mr. [John Q.] TILSON [R-Conn.]: Do you want a watermelon to go along with that? …

Mr. CARVER: Here is the original salted peanut, for which there is an increasing demand, and here is a very fine peanut bar. The peanut bar is coming into prominence in a way that very few of us recognize, and the manufacturers of this peanut bar have learned that it is a very difficult matter to get a binder for it, something to stick it together. That is found in the sweet potato syrup. …

Now there is an entirely new thing in the way of combinations. It is a new thing for making ice cream … a very new product that is going to have considerable value. …

I wish to say here in all sincerity that America produces better peanuts than any other part of the world, as far as I have been able to test them out. …

Here is a bottle of milk that is extracted from peanuts. Now, it is absolutely impossible to tell that milk from cow’s milk in looks and general appearance. This is normal milk. …

Now here is a very attractive product — an instant coffee. … Here is a bottle of Worcestershire sauce. … Now here is a very highly flavored sauce that imitates the Chinese sauce that enters into chop suey and the various Chinese confections that they are so very fond of. …

[T]he curds can be taken out and made into the various fancy cheeses the Neufchatel and Edam …

Mr. CAREW: Did you make all of these products yourself?

Mr. CARVER: Yes, sir. They are made there in the research laboratory. That is what the research laboratory is for. …

The sweet potato products now number 107 up to date. … The peanut products are going to beat the sweet-potato products by far. I have just begun with the peanut. So what is going to come of it why we do not know.

This is the very last thing. Now this is a pomade. That is, it is a face cream and will be attractive to the ladies …

Mr. GARNER: I understood you to say that the properties of the peanut combined with the properties of the sweet potato was a balanced ration, and that you could destroy all other vegetable life and continue to sustain the human race?

Mr. CARVER: Yes, sir. Because you can make up the necessary food elements there. … Then again if we think of how the peanut is used, it is the only thing that is universally used among civilized and uncivilized people, and all sorts of animals like it, and I do not know of a single case — that is, I mean normal — that complains because peanuts hurt them.

Born to slavery in Missouri near the end of the Civil War, George Washington Carver graduated from high school in Minneapolis — Minneapolis, Kan., that is.

He spent the better part of the 1890s studying at Iowa State University before accepting Booker T. Washington’s offer to head the agriculture department at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute.

One place to read more about his life, research, inventions and other pursuits is the Web site of the National Park Service’s George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Mo.

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The Wish To Make Things Better Can Make All The Difference

As a botany and agriculture teacher to the children of ex-slaves, Dr. George Washington Carver wanted to improve the lot of "the man farthest down", the poor, one-horse farmer at the mercy of the market and chained to land exhausted by cotton.

Unlike other agricultural researchers of his time, Dr. Carver saw the need to devise practical farming methods for this kind of farmer. He wanted to coax them away from cotton to such soil-enhancing, protein-rich crops as soybeans and peanuts and to teach them self-sufficiency and conservation.

Dr. Carver achieved this through an innovative series of free, simply-written brochures that included information on crops, cultivation techniques, and recipes for nutritious meals. He also urged the farmers to submit samples of their soil and water for analysis and taught them livestock care and food preservation techniques.

 

(from Tuskegee University)

George Washington Carver At A Glance 

George Washington Carver (July 12, 1864 - January 5, 1943) was an American botanical researcher and agronomy educator who worked in agricultural extension at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, AL, teaching former slaves farming techniques for self-sufficiency.

To bring education to farmers, Carver designed a mobile school. It was called a Jesup Wagon after the New York financier, Morris Ketchum Jesup, who provided funding. In 1921, Carver spoke in favor of a peanut tariff before the House Ways and Means Committee. Given racial discrimination of the time, it was unusual for an African-American to be called as an expert. Carver's well-received testimony earned him national attention, and he became an unofficial spokesman for the peanut industry. Carver wrote 44 practical agricultural bulletins for farmers.

In the post-Civil-War South, an agricultural monoculture of cotton had depleted the soil, and in the early 1900s, the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crop. Much of Carver's fame was based on his research and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops as both a source of their own food and a cash crop. His most popular bulletin contained 105 existing food recipes that used peanuts. His most famous method of promoting the peanut involved his creation of about 100 existing industrial products from peanuts, including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline and nitroglycerin. His industrial products from peanuts excited the public imagination but none was a successful commercial product.

(...from Wikipedia)

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George Washington Carver Growing Up: 

George was born of slave parents on July 12, 1864 in Diamond Grove, Missouri a sickly child at birth he would remain frail for most of his childhood. One night a band of raiders attacked his family and stole George and his mother. Days later, George was found unharmed by neighbors and was traded back to his owners in exchange for a race horse. Because of his frailty, George was not suited for work in the fields but he did possess a great interest in plants and was very eager to learn more about them. Here on the farm is where George first fell in love with plants and Mother Nature. He had his own little garden in the nearby woods where he would talk to the plants. He soon earned the nickname, The Plant Doctor, and was producing his own medicines right on the farm.

George's formal education started when he was twelve. He had, however, tried to get into schools in the past but was denied on the basis of race. No black school was available locally so he was forced to move. He said Good-bye to his adopted parents, Susan and Moses Carter, and headed to Newton County in southwest Missouri. Here is where the path of his education began. He studied in a one-room schoolhouse and worked on a farm to pay for it. He ended up, shortly after, moving with another family to Fort Scott in Kansas.

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A Short History Of George Washington Carver 

George Washington Carver devoted his life to research projects connected primarily with southern agriculture. The products he derived from the peanut and the soybean revolutionized the economy of the South by liberating it from an excessive dependence on cotton. Carver developed crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovered hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut, which created new markets for farmers. He didn't just keep the best for himself; he gave it away freely for the benefit of mankind. Not only did he achieve his goal as the world's greatest agriculturist, but also he achieved the equality and respect of all.

Though denied admission to Highland University because of his race, Carver gained acceptance to Simpson College in Indianola, IA, in 1890. He became well respected for his artistic talent (in later days his art would be included in the spectacular World's Columbian Exposition Art Exhibit.) Carver's interests, however, lay more in science and he transferred from Simpson to Iowa Agricultural College (which is now known as Iowa State University). He distinguished himself so much that upon graduation in 1894 he was offered a position on the school's faculty, the first Black accorded the honor. Carver was allowed great freedom in working inagriculture and botany in the University's greenhouses.

In 1895, Carver co-authored a series of papers on the prevention and cures for fungus diseases affecting cherry plants. In 1896 he received his master's degree inagriculture and in 1897 discovered two funguses that would be named after him. Later that year Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, convinced Carver to come south and serve as the school's director ofagriculture.

At Tuskegee, Carver developed his crop rotation method, which alternated nitrate producing legumes-such as peanuts and peas-with cotton, which depletes soil of its nutrients. Following Carver's lead, southern farmers soon began planting peanuts one year and cotton the next. While many of the peanuts were used to feed livestock, large surpluses quickly developed. Carver then developed 325 different uses for the extra peanuts-from cooking oil to printers ink. When he discovered that the sweet potato and the pecan also enriched depleted soils, Carver found almost 20 uses for these crops, including synthetic rubber and material for paving highways.

(...from The Great idea Finder)

His Life's Work 

He continued constantly working with peanuts, sweet potatoes, and pecans trying to produce new products. He developed more than 300 products from the peanut (including Peanut Butter), 175 from the sweet potato, and 60 from the pecan. He extracted blue, purple, and red pigments from the clay soil of Alabama. He researched the manufacture of synthetic marble from green wood shavings, rope from cornstalk fibers, and veneers from the palmetto root. During WWI, he worked to replace the textile dyes that were being imported from Europe. He ended up producing and replacing over 500 different shades. In 1927, he invented a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans.

Although he did hold three patents, Carver never patented most of the many discoveries he made while at Tuskegee, saying "God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else?" Three different patents were issued: US 1,522,176 Cosmetics and Producing the Same. January . 6,1925 George Washington Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama. US 1,541,478 Paint and Stain and Producing the Same. June 9, 1925 George Washington Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama US 1,632,365 Producing Paints and Stains June 14, 1927 George Washington Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama.

In 1935 he was appointed collaborator in the Division of Plant Mycology and Disease Survey of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U.S. Department ofAgriculture . By 1938, peanuts had become a $200 million industry and a chief product of Alabama. Carver also demonstrated that 100 different products could be derived from the sweet potato.

In 1940 he donated over $60,000 of his life's savings to the George Washington Carver Foundation and willed the rest of his estate to the organization so his work might be carried on after his death. George Washington Carver died on January 5, 1943 on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. He was honored by various levels of State and Federal Government as well as by foreign leaders worldwide. The United States government designated the farmland upon which he grew up as a national monument and on January 5, 1946 asGeorge Washington Carver day. He was truly a pioneer in his field and has become one of the few Black inventors recognized by mainstream America.

Carver's most important accomplishments were in areas other than industrial products from peanuts, including agricultural extension education, improvement of racial relations, mentoring children, poetry, painting, religion, advocacy of sustainable agriculture and appreciation of plants and nature. He served as a valuable role model for African-Americans and an example of the importance of hard work, a positive attitude and a good education. His humility, humanitarianism, good nature, frugality and lack of economic materialism have also been widely admired.

One of his most important roles was that the fame of his achievements and many talents undermined the widespread stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. In 1941, "Time" magazine dubbed him a "Black Leonardo," a reference to the white polymath Leonardo da Vinci.

George Washington Carver's List 

George Washington Carver compiled a list of eight cardinal virtues for his students to emulate and strive toward:

1. Be clean both inside and out.
2. Neither look up to the rich or down on the poor.
3. Lose, if need be, without squealing.
4. Win without bragging.
5. Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
6. Be too brave to lie.
7. Be too generous to cheat.
8. Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

Awards and Honors 

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce of Britain in 1916, the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1923, and in 1939 was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Medal for "distinguished research in agricultural chemistry." Man of the Year in 1940 by the International Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians. Finally, he received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Simpson College as well as the University of Rochester. In 1990 he was inducted into The National Inventor's Hall of Fame for his accomplishments.

Some Publications By George Washington Carver 

• How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption BULLETIN NO. 31 JUNE 1925
• How The Farmer Can Save His Sweet Potatoes and Ways Of Preparing Them For The Table BULLETIN NO. 38 NOVEMBER 1936
• How to Grow the Tomato and
  115 Ways to Prepare it for the Table

Useful Reference Links 

Tuskegee University

The Legacy of George Washington Carver

Iowa State University

George Washington Carver - Inspiring Students To Become Their Best

George Washington Carver's Memorial

George Washington Carver's Monument

National Hisorical Chemical Landmarks

George Washington Carver: Chemist, Teacher, Symbol

National Parks Service

The George Washington Carver National Monument

The Carver Academy

The Carver Academy is a non-profit, private school located in San Antonio, Texas.

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Encyclopedia of World Biography | 2004 | COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

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George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) started his life as a slave and ended it as a respected and world-renowned agricultural chemist.

Born in Kansas Territory near Diamond Grove, Mo., during the bloody struggle between free-soilers and slaveholders, George Washington Carver became the kidnap victim of night riders. With his mother and brother, James, he was held for ransom; but before they could be rescued the mother died. Merely a babe in arms, Carver was ransomed for a $300 racehorse by Moses Carver, a German farmer. Thus he was orphaned and left in the custody of a white guardian from early childhood.

Carver had responsibility for his own education. His first school was in Neosho, lowa, some 9 miles from his home. Neosho had once been a Confederate capital; by now it had become the site of the Lincoln School for African American children. With James he walked there every day. His first teacher was an African American, Stephen S. Frost. He and his brother went faithfully to school for several years. Finally James tired of formal schooling and quit to become a house painter, but not George. He continued until he was 17. Then he went on to complete his high school work in Minneapolis, Kans.

Carver really wished to become an artist. His sketch of the rose Yucca gloriosa won him a first prize at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893).

Carver applied to study at the lowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts but was turned down when it was learned that he was of African heritage. He then applied to Simpson College at Indianola, lowa, where he was the second African American to be admitted. Tuition was $12 a year, but even this small amount was hard to come by. Carver raised the money by working as a cook at a hotel in Winterset, lowa.

After 3 years' attendance at Simpson College, he once again applied for admission to lowa State. He was admitted and was placed in charge of the greenhouse of the horticultural department while doing graduate work. He earned his master's degree in agriculture in 1896.

In April 1896 Carver received a unique offer from the African American educator Booker T. Washington to teach at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Said Dr. Washington: "I cannot offer you money, position or fame. The first two you have. The last from the position you now occupy you will no doubt achieve. These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place: work—hard, hard work, the task of bringing a people from degradation, poverty, and waste to full manhood. Your department exists only on paper and your laboratory will have to be in your head."

Carver accepted the challenge. He arrived at the tiny railroad station at Chehaw, Ala., on Oct. 8, 1896. In a report to Dr. Washington he wrote: "8:00 to 9:00 A.M., Agricultural Chemistry; 9:20 to 10:00 A.M., the Foundation of Colors (for painters); 10:00 to 11:00 A.M., a class of farmers. Additional hours in the afternoon. In addition I must oversee and rather imperfectly supervise seven industrial classes, scattered here and there over the grounds. I must test all seeds, examine all fertilizers, based upon an examination of soils in different plots."

Through the years Carver was gaining national and international stature. Chinese and Japanese farmers raised many unique problems for him. Questions were referred to him from Russia, India, Europe, South America. He later had to turn down a request to journey to the Soviet Union. In 1916 he was elected a member of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts in England; he went to Washington to the War Department to demonstrate his findings on the sweet potato in 1918. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP in 1923.

An early close friend of Carver was Henry A. Wallace; the pair knew each other for 47 years. Wallace said that Carver often took him on botanical expeditions, and it was he who first introduced Wallace to the mysteries of plant fertilizers. Carver was a shy and modest bachelor. An attack of whooping cough as a child had permanently caused him to have a high-pitched tenor voice. He considered it a high duty to attend classes and was seldom absent. In 1908 he returned to the West to visit his 96-year-old guardian, Moses Carver, and to visit the grave of his brother, James, in Missouri.

A careful and modest scientist, Carver was not without a sense of humor. When one of his students, hoping to play a trick on him, showed him a bug with wings of a fly and body of a mosquito, Carver was quick to label it "a humbug."

Carver utilized the materials at hand. He was interested in crop rotation and soil conservation. From the clay soil of Alabama he extracted a full range of dyestuffs, including a brilliant blue. He created 60 products from the pecan. From the common sweet potato he extracted a cereal coffee, a shoe polish, paste, oils—about 100 products. From the peanut he developed over 145 products. Carver suggested peanuts, pecans, and sweet potatoes replace cotton as money crops. He published all of his findings in a series of nearly 50 bulletins.

The testimony of Carver before the congressional House Ways and Means Committee in 1921 led to the passage of the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Bill of 1922. Scheduled to speak a scant 10 minutes, he was granted several time extensions because of the intense interest in his presentation. (He appeared in a greenish-blue suit many seasons old, having refused to invest in a new suit: "They want to hear what I have to say; they will not be interested in how I look.")

In 1935 Carver was chosen to collaborate with the Bureau of Plant Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He received the Theodore Roosevelt Medal in 1939 for distinguished achievement in science. During his lifetime Carver had made many friends. Henry Ford was his frequent host. Carver was a treasured friend of Thomas A. Edison. It was Edison who offered to make him independent with his own laboratories and an annual stipend of $50,000. Other intimates of his were Luther Burbank, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs. He was also a friend of three presidents: Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Dr. Carver had earned the salary of $125 a month from the beginning until the end of his service at Tuskegee. He might have had much more. In 1940 he gave his life-savings, $33,000, to establish the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee Institute to perpetuate research in agriculture and chemistry. He later bequeathed his entire estate to the foundation, making a total of about $60,000. He died on Jan. 5, 1943.

At the dedication of a building in his honor at Simpson College, Dr. Ralph Bunche, Nobel Prize winner, pronounced Dr. Carver to be "the least imposing celebrity the world has ever known." Dr. Carver's birthplace was made a national monument on July 14, 1953.

Further Reading

Of the many studies of Carver the best is Rackham Holt, George Washington Carver: An American Biography (1943). Also useful is Shirley Graham and George D. Lipscomb, Dr. George Washington Carver, Scientist (1944). □

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	George Washington Carver Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography George Washington Carver George Washington Carver (1864-1943) started his life as a slave and ended it as a respected and world-renowned agricultural chemist. Born in Kansas Territory near Diamond Grove, Mo., during the bloody struggle...
	George Washington Carver National Monument Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition George Washington Carver National Monument see National Parks and Monuments (table).
	Carver, George Washington 1861(?)–1943 Book article from: Contemporary Black Biography George Washington Carver 1861(?) – 1943 Agricultural...Genius Carver ’ s Legacy George Washington Carver was an agricultural chemist and...research, 1910-1943; founder of George Washington Carver Foundation and Carver Museum...
	Carver, George Washington Book article from: Chemistry: Foundations and Applications Carver, George Washington AMERICAN BOTANIST c. 1864 – 1943 George Washington Carver was born on a Missouri farm near...Bibliography Holt, Rackham (1945). George Washington Carver: An American Biography. New...
	Carver, George Washington Farmer, Agricultural/Food Scientist, Educator... Book article from: Pollution A to Z Carver, George Washington FARMER, AGRICULTURAL/FOOD...agricultural practices developed by George Washington Carver at the beginning of the twentieth...Bibliography Holt, Rackham. (1943). George Washington Carver: An American Biography. Garden...

USDA Regional Food Planning Links

The Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative at USDA is a cross-agency effort focusing on local and regional food systems.

 

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ATTRA is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. It provides information and other technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, Extension agents, educators, and others involved in sustainable agriculture in the United States.

eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America. eXtension connects knowledge consumers with knowledge providers - experts who know their subject matter inside out.

 

Contact info:

Jim  Embry

 Sustainable Communities Network

573 Stratford Dr. Lexington, KY 40503

http://sustainlex.org/, embryjim@gmail.com, 859-270-3699

 

 

 

 

 

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  • Food Bank For New York City
  • Food Declaration
  • Food First – The Institute for Food and Development Policy
  • Food Renegade
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  • Free From Harm
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  • Garden of Eating blog
  • Glynwood
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  • Grist
  • Growing Power
  • Heritage Foods USA
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  • Homegrown Evolution
  • Humane Society
  • In Search of Good Food
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  • Just Food
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  • La Cocina
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  • Marler Blog
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  • National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
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  • Oakland Food Connection
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  • Politics of the Plate
  • Real Food Challenge
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