George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was world-renowned for his achievements in agricultural research. He taught Southern sharecroppers and farmers how to grow and preserve nutritious foods as well as how to maximize their yield by rotating crops. In 1914, he used his influence to convince Southern Congressmen to move to other crops besides cotton--a crop being threatened by the boll weevil--and revolutionized southern agriculture. He developed processes for manufacturing paper, ink, shaving cream, linoleum, synthetic rubber, plastics, bleach, metal polish and over 300 other consumer and industrial products from the peanut and the sweet potato. Carver was sought all over the world for his expertise in plant disease and mycology. Mahatma Ghandi solicited Carver's advice on building and maintaining the county's agricultural system. Even Joseph Stalin sought out his advice to help him exploit the fertility of the massive expanses of land in the former USSR. Carver's development of peanut milk--a more nutritious alternative to cow's milk--saved the lives of hundreds of babies in West Africa. Born a slave in Mississippi, Carver earned a high school diploma after the Civil War while working as a farmhand. He attended Iowa Agricultural College while working as the school janitor. He received his Master's degree from Iowa as well and became the first Black person to serve on its faculty. Shortly thereafter he joined the faculty at Booker T Washington's Tuskegee. Above all, Carver was a spiritual person: "How do I talk to a little flower? Through it I talk to the Infinite.... I refer to the unseen Spirit that defies the power of human reproduction, that challenges the power of human expression.... When you look into the heart of the rose, there you experience it." Carver never patented most of his discoveries while at Tuskegee: "God gave them to me; how can I sell them to someone else?" Though he was offered large salaries to work for Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, Carver choose instead to work for the improvement of the quality of life for the disenfranchised: "If I took that money, I might forget my people."

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