CARVER, DR. GEORGE WASHINGTON (c.1864–5 January 1943), a prominent Black scientist of the early twentieth century. Carver was an American agricultural scientist and inventor known for devising practical and alternative techniques and methods to prevent soil depletion. In particular, while serving as a professor and director of the Agriculture Department at Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute, Carver developed sustainable farming techniques and practices to improve soils depleted from monoculture farming practices (and the devastating intrusion of the boll weevil) centered primarily on cotton. Unlike other agricultural scientists and researchers of his time, Carver developed farming methods aimed at improving the economic conditions of poor Black farmers who were often allocated land that was already exhausted by cotton production. He circulated this work through free, simply-written brochures that included information on protein-rich crops such as soybeans, peanuts, and sweet potatoes; cultivation techniques; and recipes for nutritious meals. These bulletins also encouraged farmers to submit soil and water samples to be collected for analysis, alongside other methods aimed at teaching self-sufficiency and conservation—whether through sourcing their own food, livestock care, or food preservation techniques. One of the most popular of Carver’s forty-four practical bulletins for farmers was one that contained more than one hundred food recipes using peanuts.
Carver was born into slavery in Missouri near the end of the Civil War. As a baby, he was kidnapped, along with his sister and mother, and sold in Kentucky by night raiders. Although his mother and sister were never heard from again, their previous owner, Moses Carver, was able to negotiate for George Washington Carver’s return. After slavery was abolished, Moses Carver and his wife raised George and his older brother, James, as their own children, encouraging them to pursue intellectual fields. George was accepted at Highland University in Kansas but was ultimately refused admission because of his race. Instead, he began homesteading, and maintained a small conservatory of plants and flowers, as well as a geological collection. In 1890 Carver began to study art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, but his art teacher, Etta Budd, noticed his aptitude for botanical illustration and encouraged him to further his study of botany at Iowa State Agricultural College (now known as Iowa State University) in Ames. When he began there in 1891, he was the first Black student at the university. Carver was encouraged to pursue his master’s degree at Iowa State, and his work there in plant pathology and mycology gained him national recognition and respect as a botanist. After receiving his degree, Carver also became the first Black faculty member of the university.
In 1896 Carver was invited by Booker T. Washington to head the Tuskegee Institute’s Agriculture Department. Carver taught there for forty-seven years, developing the department into a powerful research center during his long tenure. One of his earliest known achievements was the development of the Jesup Wagon, a mobile school and demonstration laboratory that significantly contributed to the education and nutrition of poor rural farmers and growers.
Carver’s close association with the peanut began with his popular 1916 pamphlet, “How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption.” In 1920 Carver was invited to share his discoveries regarding new uses for peanuts and other crops at a national conference organized by the Peanut Growers Association, and he testified before Congress in 1921 to support passage of a tariff on imported peanuts. These presentations brought him wide publicity and renown. But Carver’s legacy reaches far beyond the peanut. He was an early promoter of environmentalism, education, and nutrition for the neglected Black farmers of the South. He founded agricultural extensions of programs established at prominent universities, as well as industrial research laboratories that popularized new crops and their applications. All of these advances were described and disseminated in his bulletins.
Carver was always guided by a strong moral and ethical compass, and his holistic approach to knowledge was acknowledged widely. President Theodore Roosevelt praised and publicly recognized his work, and his legacy is remembered in the historical records and via monuments. Nonetheless, during his lifetime Carver remained modest about his successes despite his national influence and fame.