George Washington Carver was a talented man who survived slavery
and the loss of both parents at an early age. He spent his life trying to
improve agricultural methods so that farmers could rise above poverty.
He is perhaps most famous for inventing many uses for the peanut.
Born to slaves
George Washington Carver was born in a small cabin in Diamond,
Missouri, shortly before the end of the American Civil War (1861–65).
His mother was a slave owned by Moses and Susan Carver (slaves took
the last names of their owners). His father, also a slave, was killed in an
accident shortly after his son’s birth. After Carver’s mother was kidnapped, he and his brother were raised by the Carvers. Although they
struggled financially, the Carvers were loving parents to the orphaned
boys. Carver spent much of his childhood outdoors, where he explored
his natural surroundings. He built a pond and even grew a plant nursery
in the woods. His hobby earned him the nickname “plant doctor.”
At the age of ten, Carver left his family to attend a school that allowed African American students. He took care of himself by working
odd jobs and living with different families. In 1885, when he was twenty
years old, he graduated from high school and was accepted at Highland College in Kansas, but when he arrived he was
turned away because the school did not accept
African Americans. Carver, lacking money and
prospects, found work on a nearby fruit farm.
Down but not out
The discrimination that kept Carver out of
Highland College did not discourage him from
furthering his education. In 1890, he began attending Simpson College in Iowa, where he
hoped to study painting. His art teacher recognized Carver’s talent, but knew he would find it
difficult to be accepted as an artist. She suggested a career in botany (the study of plants)
and helped him get admitted to the Iowa
Agricultural College in Ames.
It proved to be a wise move for Carver. He
got involved in a variety of clubs and activities at
the college, and he was an excellent student whose natural talent in agriculture made him popular among his peers and professors. Carver received his bachelor’s degree and stayed on for graduate work. He received
his master’s degree in 1896.
Tuskegee calls
After earning his master’s degree, Carver received a surprise invitation
from respected educator Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), the
African American founder of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Tuskegee had been established in the 1880s as an industrial and agricultural school for African American students. It was the first of its kind and
a great success. Carver was asked to become its director of agriculture,
and he accepted.
In addition to being head of the department, Carver worked with
local farmers. The region was devastatingly poor, and Carver helped by
writing instructional pamphlets on farming. He also established a mobile
school that crossed the South, visiting farmers and teaching them better
agricultural methods. At first, when it began in 1906, the school was
nothing more than a mule-drawn cart, but before long, the cart was replaced by a truck carrying farming tools and exhibits.
In 1910, Carver became the director of a new research department,
and his title became “consulting chemist.” Carver enjoyed the research
that went along with this new title, but he lacked a proper laboratory and
equipment. Most of the time, he had to make his own equipment out of
old bottles, wire, and other materials at hand.
The field of scientific agriculture—the exploration of alternative
farming methods—was new at the time. In his attempts to improve the
quality of life for local farmers, Carver analyzed water and soil, experimented with paints made of clay, and searched for new, inexpensive
foods to supplement their diets. The most versatile resource Carver
found was the peanut. He used it to restore nitrogen to the depleted soil,
and from it he made soap, shampoo, metal polish, even adhesives. The
one thing he did not make from peanuts was peanut butter.
Honored for lifetime achievements
Carver became an advocate of “chemurgy,” the concept of putting chemistry to work in industry for farmers. He met industrialist and automobile pioneer Henry Ford (1863–1947) in 1937, and the two formed an
immediate and lifelong friendship. In 1940, Carver founded the Carver
Museum to continue and preserve his work, and at its opening Ford dedicated the museum.
Shortly after the opening of the museum, Carver’s health began to
fail. Carver died of injuries from falling down a flight of stairs, and he
was buried next to Booker T. Washington. On his headstone was carved,
“He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found
happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.”
Carver received numerous awards and honors during his lifetime.
After his death in 1943, he was twice featured on commemorative postage
stamps. He was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1977
and inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990. Carver’s
birthplace in southwestern Missouri is now a national monument—the
first national birthplace monument honoring a non-president.