CARVER, George Washington
(1864–1943), American educator and an outstanding innovator
in the agricultural sciences. Carver was born of slave parents near
Diamond, Mo. He left the farm where he was born when he was about
ten years old and eventually settled in Minneapolis, Kans., where
he worked his way through high school.
Following his graduation in 1894 from Iowa State College of
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University), Carver
joined the college faculty and continued his studies, specializing
in bacteriological laboratory work in systematic botany. In 1896
he became director of the Department of Agricultural Research at
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University),
where he began an exhaustive series of experiments with peanuts.
Carver developed several hundred industrial uses for peanuts, sweet
potatoes, and soybeans and developed a new type of cotton known
as Carver’s hybrid. His discoveries induced southern farmers
to raise other crops in addition to cotton. He also taught methods
of soil improvement.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Carver was awarded
the Spingarn Medal in 1923 by the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People. In 1935 he was appointed collaborator in the
Division of Plant Mycology and Disease Survey of the Bureau of Plant
Industry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 1940 he donated
all his savings to the establishment of the George Washington Carver
Foundation at Tuskegee for research in natural science. Carver died
at Tuskegee, on Jan. 5, 1943. His birthplace was established as
the George Washington Carver National Monument in 1951.