George Washington Carver
Agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops and soil conservation.
Quick Facts
- Born
- c. January 1, 1864
- Birthplace
- Diamond, Missouri, U.S.
- Died
- 5 January 1943
- Place of death
- Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.
- Resting place
- Tuskegee University
- Education
- Iowa State University (BA, MSc)
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
He taught methods of crop rotation and introduced several alternative cash crops for farmers.[3] Because Missouri did not abolish slavery until January 1865, and this occurred before Carver was born, the exact day of his birth remains unknown.[1] On October 9, 1855, Moses Carver, who enslaved them, bought George's parents, Mary and Giles, from William P. McGinnis for $700.[1] Following emancipation, George and his older brother James were raised by Moses Carver and his wife Susan as if they were their own children.[4]
Highland University in Kansas accepted Carver's application, but upon his arrival, the institution barred him from attending due to his race.[5] In 1890, Carver enrolled at Simpson College to study art and piano; his instructor there, Etta Budd, urged him to pursue botany at Iowa State Agricultural College.[6] Carver became Iowa State's inaugural Black student when he commenced his studies there in 1891.[7] Over 47 years of teaching at Tuskegee, Carver built the department into a robust center for research.[8]
What the cited sources add
The Macintosh article in American Heritage Magazine notes that Henry Ford called Carver "the world's greatest living scientist" near the end of Carver's life.[2] Upon Carver's death in 1943, Congress passed and President Roosevelt signed legislation making his birthplace a national monument.[2] The same source states that Carver's appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee in January 1921 launched his national identity as "the peanut man"[2] After Carver's death, the Carver Museum credited him with developing 287 peanut commodities.[2]
The Macintosh article adds that Carver championed the sweet potato as a nutritional complement well suited to Southern soils.[2] The Macintosh article notes that a bulletin from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1896 had already described the peanut's ability to restore nitrogen to soil and listed its many applications.[2]
References
- Wikipedia, "George Washington Carver" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gart, "HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS: THE EARLY LIFE OF GEORGE W. CARVER", National Park Service, 2014; Macintosh, "George Washington Carver and the Peanut", American Heritage Magazine, August 1977; McMurry (1982), George Washington Carver, pp. 9–10.; "About GWC: A Tour of His Life", George Washington Carver National Monument (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Macintosh, "George Washington Carver and the Peanut", American Heritage Magazine, August 1977. facts only, no text reused. americanheritage.com
- Wikipedia, "George Washington Carver" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "George Washington Carver (U.S. National Park Service)", www.nps.gov (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "George Washington Carver" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Profiles of Great Black Americans: Pioneers of Discovery", Chelsea House Publishers, 1994, p. 26–32 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "George Washington Carver" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burgan, "George Washington Carver: Scientist, Inventor, and Teacher", Compass Point Books, 2007, p. 37; Kremer, "George Washington Carver: A Biography", ABC-CLIO, 2011, p. 21; George Washington Carver: Scientist, Scholar, and Educator from the "Blue Skyways" website of the Kansas State Library.; Southeast Quarter of Section 4, Township 19 South, Range 26 West of the Sixth Principal Meridian, Ness County, Kansas. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "George Washington Carver" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: George Washington Carver: Scientist, Scholar, and Educator from the "Blue Skyways" website of the Kansas State Library.; "George Washington Carver", Dunn Library Archives & Special Collections; "George Washington Carver", Dunn Library Archives & Special Collections (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "George Washington Carver" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "George Washington Carver Bio", Digital Collections, Iowa State University; Geo. W. Carver, "Plants as Modified by Man.", 1894; "Distinguished Alumni", Iowa State University, Office of Admissions; "George Washington Carver Bio", Digital Collections, Iowa State University (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "George Washington Carver" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Macintosh, "George Washington Carver and the Peanut", American Heritage Magazine, August 1977 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article George Washington Carver (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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