George Washington Carver

(1864?–1943). American agricultural chemist helped to modernize the agricultural economy of the South. He developed new products derived from peanuts and soybeans and promoted the planting of these legumes as a way of liberating the South from its dependency on cotton.
Carver was born a slave on a farm near Diamond Grove, Mo. Although he was freed after the American Civil War he lived until age 10 or 12 on his former owner’s plantation, where he learned to draw and became interested in plants and animals. He then left and worked at a variety of jobs while he pursued an education. After earning his high school degree he attended Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, and Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University) at Ames. At Iowa he earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science in 1894 and a master’s degree in 1896.
Carver’s achievements with plants brought him to the attention of Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama. Carver became head of Tuskegee’s agriculture department in 1896. In his 47 years there the great plant scientist did notable work in scientific agriculture and chemurgy (the industrial use of raw products from plants). He made hundreds of useful products from peanuts and sweet potatoes alone.
Carver was also a painter and a musician. In 1940 he used his life savings to establish the George Washington Carver Foundation for research in agricultural chemistry. Ten years after his death in Tuskegee on Jan. 5, 1943, Carver’s birthplace was dedicated as a national monument.