African American Hero of the Day

George Washington Carver (c. 1864-1943)

Agricultural Scientist

George Washington Carver was born a slave in Diamond Grove, Missouri, between 1861 and 1865. Carver was only an infant when he and his mother were abducted from his owner's plantation by a band of slave raiders. His mother was sold and shipped away, but Carver was ransomed by his master in exchange for a race horse.

While working as a farm hand, Carver managed to obtain a high school education. He was admitted as the first black student of Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa. He then attended Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) where, while working as the school janitor, he received a degree in agricultural science in 1894. Two years later he received a master's degree from the same school and became the first African American to serve on its faculty. Within a short time his fame spread, and Booker T. Washington offered him a post at Tuskegee Institute.

Carver revolutionized the southern agricultural economy by showing that three hundred products could be derived from the peanut. By 1938 peanuts had become a $200-million industry and a chief product of Alabama. He also demonstrated that one hundred different products could be derived from the sweet potato.

Although he held three patents, Carver did not patent most of his many discoveries made while at Tuskegee, saying, "God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else?" In 1938 he donated over $30,000 of his life's savings to the George Washington Carver Foundation and willed the rest of his estate to the organization so his work might be carried on after his death.

George Washington Carver devoted his life to research projects connected primarily with southern agriculture. The products he derived from the peanut and the soybean revolutionized the economy of the South by liberating it from an excessive dependence on cotton. Carver died on January 5, 1943.

From African American Almanac: 400 Years of Triumph, Courage and Excellence by Lean'tin Bracks, (c) 2012 Visible Ink Press(R). A wealth of milestones, inspiration, and challenges met . . .