Early Life

George Washington Carver was born in Diamond Grove, Missouri around 1864. A frail, sickly child, Carver was unable to work in the fields, so he did household chores and gardening. He was left with many free hours to wander the woods — collecting rocks and flowers, and beginning a lifelong love affair with nature. He soon became known as the “Plant Doctor” and would help friends and neighbors nurture sick plants. In 1890, he began to study music and art at Simpson College. An accomplished pianist and painter, his artwork was displayed at the 1893 World’s Fair. Painting enabled him to combine his two loves — art and nature. Yet it was his horticultural talents that took him in another direction in 1891. Carver became the first African-American to enroll at what is today Iowa State University. He proved to be an excellent student and upon graduation he became the school’s first African-American faculty member.

Outstanding Career

In 1896, he received a request from Booker T. Washington to become the Director of the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Carver was determined to use his knowledge to help poor farmers of the rural South. At the time, the boll weevil had destroyed Alabama’s cotton crop and many farmers didn’t know where to turn. He began by introducing the idea of crop rotation. In the Tuskegee experimental fields, Carver settled on peanuts because it was a simple crop to grow and had excellent nitrogen fixating properties to improve soil depleted by growing cotton. He took his lessons to former slaves turned sharecroppers by inventing the Jessup Wagon, a horse-drawn classroom and laboratory for demonstrating soil chemistry. Farmers were ecstatic with the large cotton crops resulting from the cotton/peanut rotation, but were less enthusiastic about the huge surplus of peanuts that built up and began to rot in local storehouses.

Carver heard the complaints and retired to his laboratory for a solid week, during which he developed several new products that could be produced from peanuts. When he introduced these products to the public in a series of simple brochures, the market for peanuts skyrocketed. In 1916, he published the research bulletin, “How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption.” Farmers turned to peanuts as a cash crop. Cotton oil mills were converted to produce peanut oil. Livestock could eat the peanut plant and sharecroppers could feed their families on crops that weren’t sold. Today, Carver is credited with saving the agricultural economy of the rural South.

With an insatiable curiosity and keen knowledge of chemistry and physics, Carver continued his research with the peanut. By separating the fats, oils, gums, resins and sugars, he went on to find many uses for the peanut. In fact, he developed more than 300 new uses for the humble legume. While Marcellus Gilmore Edson first patented peanut butter in 1884, Carver did develop several peanut butter formulas of his own as well as other food products including peanut lemon punch, chili sauce, caramel, peanut sausage, mayonnaise and coffee. Cosmetics included face powder, shampoo, shaving cream and hand lotion. Insecticides, glue, charcoal, rubber, nitroglycerine, plastics and axle grease are just a few of the many valuable peanut products discovered by Dr. Carver. He also discovered hundreds of uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes.

Lasting Legacy

Dr. Carver’s research gained him much worldwide acclaim.

Dr. George Washington Carver died on January 5, 1943, and is buried on the campus at Tuskegee. Carver contributed his entire life savings to establish a research institute at Tuskegee. Upon his death, Franklin D. Roosevelt sent this message, “All mankind are the beneficiaries of his discoveries in the field of agricultural chemistry. The things which he achieved in the face of early handicaps will for all time afford an inspiring example to youth everywhere.”

Carver compiled a list of eight cardinal virtues for all his students to try to emulate. These were:
• Be clean both inside and out.
• Neither look up to the rich nor 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.