George Washington Carver – Scientist, Educator, Inventor
Referred to as a "Black Leonardo" by Time Magazine, George Washington Carver was a remarkable figure whose contributions spanned the realms of science, education, and invention. His multifaceted expertise made him a prominent botanist, a dedicated educator, and an innovative inventor. The life of George Washington Carver is a testament to perseverance, intellectual curiosity, and a profound commitment to improving the lives of others, particularly African American farmers in the rural South.
Born in Diamond Grove, Missouri, the precise date of George Washington Carver’s birth remains somewhat of a mystery, with estimates ranging from January 1861 to January 1864. His parents, Mary and Giles, were enslaved by Moses Carver, a German American immigrant. The early years of Carver’s life were marked by the brutal realities of slavery and the chaos of the Civil War era.
Tragedy struck shortly after his birth when George Washington Carver and his mother were kidnapped by Confederate raiders and taken to Kentucky to be sold. Moses Carver acted swiftly, hiring John Bentley to locate them. Bentley successfully tracked down young George, and Moses negotiated his return, paying a hefty ransom of a racehorse valued at $300. Sadly, Mary, George’s mother, was never found.
With the end of slavery on the horizon, George Washington Carver found himself orphaned and under the care of Moses Carver and his wife, Susan. Recognizing the young boy’s frail health, the Carvers did not require him to perform strenuous farm labor. Instead, he was encouraged to explore the natural world, spending countless hours tending the gardens around the Carver home. His innate talent for nurturing plants quickly became apparent, and he earned the nickname "the Plant Doctor" within the local community.
People would seek Carver’s advice on caring for their ailing plants, and he would often prescribe remedies or take the plants to his secret garden in the woods, where he would nurse them back to health. Susan Carver also played a vital role in his early education, teaching him how to read since Black children were barred from attending local schools. Carver possessed an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and when he observed Black children attending a school in Neosho, Missouri, ten miles south of Diamond Grove, he knew he had to enroll.
At the tender age of 11, Carver informed the Carvers of his decision to move to Neosho to pursue his education, assuring them that he would find a way to support himself using his knowledge. The Carvers, recognizing his determination, allowed him to go. His first night in Neosho was spent in the loft of a barn near the schoolhouse. The following morning, he met Mariah Watkins, the owner of the home and barn. He explained his desire to rent a room and attend the school, identifying himself as "Carver’s George." Watkins, deeply impressed by the young boy’s ambition, declared that his name would henceforth be "George Carver." She also imparted a crucial piece of advice: "You must learn all you can, then go back into the world and give your learning back to the people."
Carver’s educational journey led him through various schools. At 13, he sought to attend an academy in Fort Scott, Kansas, but his stay was cut short after witnessing a brutal act of racial violence when a group of white men killed a Black man. After attending several other schools, Carver finally earned his high school diploma from Minneapolis Kansas High School.
In 1886, Carver applied to Highland College in Highland, Kansas, and received an acceptance. However, his hopes for higher education were immediately shattered when the college rejected him upon his arrival due to his race. Undeterred, he moved to Ness County, Kansas, where he homesteaded a claim. He cultivated a small conservatory of plants and flowers and built a geological collection. He also farmed 17 acres of crops, including rice, corn, and fruit trees, while supplementing his income as a ranch hand and by performing odd jobs in the nearby town of Beeler.
In 1890, with the help of an education loan from the Bank of Ness City, Carver left Kansas to study art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. His art teacher recognized his talent for painting plants and flowers and encouraged him to pursue the study of botany. The following year, he became the first Black student at Iowa State Agricultural College in Ames.
After earning his bachelor’s degree, Carver was persuaded by his professors to continue his education at Iowa State, where he pursued a master’s degree. During this time, he conducted research at the Iowa Experimental Station, which earned him his first national recognition and respect as a botanist.
Upon completing his master’s degree, Booker T. Washington, the founder of the Tuskegee Institute, an African American vocational school in Tuskegee, Alabama, offered Carver a position as head of its Agriculture Department. It was at Tuskegee that Carver would make his most significant contributions as an educator and scientist. He designed a mobile classroom called a "Jesup wagon," named after philanthropist Morris Jesup, who provided funding for the program. He used the wagon to travel throughout the region, educating farmers on crop rotation methods and introducing alternative cash crops to improve the soil, which had been depleted by years of repeated cotton planting.
In 1915, Carver began focusing his research on finding new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans, pecans, and other crops. His work gained national attention, particularly after his testimony before Congress in 1921 in support of tariffs on imported peanuts and his speech at the national conference of the Peanut Growers Association the previous year.
Carver’s efforts to educate farmers on soil improvement techniques, such as crop rotation, had a profound impact on the agricultural landscape of the South. By restoring nitrogen to the soil, these methods improved cotton yields and provided farmers with alternative crops like sweet potatoes and soybeans. Even President Theodore Roosevelt publicly admired Carver’s work, having learned about it through former professors from Iowa who served in his cabinet.
During his 47 years at the Tuskegee Institute, Carver reportedly discovered 300 uses for peanuts and hundreds more for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. However, he only obtained three patents, none of which were commercially successful. Furthermore, Carver did not keep detailed records of his inventions or maintain a laboratory notebook. Although he has often been credited with inventing peanut butter, this is inaccurate, as other cultures have been making peanut butter for centuries. Marcellus Gilmore Edson was awarded a patent for the manufacture of peanut butter in 1884, when Carver was only 20 years old.
Despite his limited commercial success, Carver became a prominent figure in the last decades of his life, traveling extensively to promote Tuskegee, peanuts, and racial harmony. He met with three U.S. Presidents (Teddy Roosevelt, Coolidge, and Franklin Roosevelt), and even the Crown Prince of Sweden studied with him for several weeks. While some have argued that his accomplishments were exaggerated, there is no denying the lasting legacy he left in agriculture.
George Washington Carver died on January 5, 1943, never having married. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington in Tuskegee, his gravestone inscribed with the words: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."
In July of the same year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated funds for the George Washington Carver National Monument near Diamond, Missouri. This was the first national monument dedicated to an African American and the first to honor someone other than a President. In 1977, Carver was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, and in 1990, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. These are just a few of the many honors bestowed upon him, as numerous schools are named after him, and many institutions continue to celebrate his legacy.