Who would have thought there could be hundreds of applications for peanuts, soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes?
George Washington Carver certainly did and because he did, southern United States agriculture was revolutionized.
George Washington Carver was a scientist, botanist, educator and inventor.
He was born into slavery in 1864 on his master’s farm where he gained an interest in nature.
Cotton’s depletion of the soil and the boll weevil’s destruction of cotton, during the Reconstruction era, led Carver to devote his practice to establishing alternative crops for southern farmers.
George Washington Carver wanted farmers to grow alternative crops as a source to improve their quality of life and as a source of their own food.
Therefore, Carver discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans, sweet potatoes, and pecans.
Carver is most known for his hundreds of recipes and uses for peanuts.
With peanuts alone, Carver originated about 300 applications. However, Carver found many uses for sweet potatoes, pecans, and soybeans as well.
George Washington Carver found that such crops were useful for cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline, and other foods such as mayonnaise, buttermilk, coffee, and chili sauce.
Carver not only developed these techniques but educated many on such inventions while serving as the Director of Agriculture at Tuskegee University.
He remained apart of the faculty, at Tuskegee, until his death in 1943.
Though Carver discovered hundreds of applications for alternative crops, he only applied for three patents.
Carver chose not to profit from most of his products.
When questioned about his refusal to profit from his work, he would respond, “God gave them to me. How can I sell them to someone else?”
Carver’s work gained him much fame, respect and numerous honors.
He was an honorary member of the Royal Society of Arts in England. In 1939, he received the Roosevelt medal for restoring southern agriculture and after his death, President Roosevelt honored Carver with a national monument dedicated to his accomplishments.
Besides revolutionizing southern agriculture, Carver’s legacy also includes his humanitarianism and serving as a prominent figure in improving race relations.
Carver’s many achievements and talents rejected the stereotype of blacks being intellectually inferior.
George Washington Carver’s legacy is best demonstrated by the epitaph on his grave, which reads, “He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.”
Be the first to comment on this article!