Historical Figure
George Washington Carver
d. 1943
American botanist and inventor (1864–1943)
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Biography
George Washington Carver was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.
Timeline
The story of George Washington Carver, told in moments.
Born into slavery in Diamond, Missouri. Kidnapped as an infant with his mother by Confederate raiders. His owner Moses Carver traded a racehorse to get the baby back. His mother was never found.
Became the first Black student at Iowa State Agricultural College. He earned a master's degree in botany. His thesis adviser tried to keep him in Iowa, but Booker T. Washington had other plans.
Arrived at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He'd been offered a lab. Instead he found an empty room. He built his first equipment from junkyard scraps.
Published "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption." He eventually catalogued over 300 peanut products, from dye to milk to axle grease.
Died at Tuskegee at about 78. His grave reads "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."
In Their Own Words (10)
My attitude toward life was also my attitude toward science. Jesus said one must be born again, must become as a little child. He must let no laziness, no fear, no stubbornness keep him from his duty. If he were born again he would see life from such a plane he would have the energy not to be impeded in his duty by these various sidetrackers and inhibitions. My work, my life, must be in the spirit of a little child seeking only to know the truth and follow it. My purpose alone must be God's purpose - to increase the welfare and happiness of His people. Nature will not permit a vacuum. It will be filled with something. Human need is really a great spiritual vacuum which God seeks to fill... With one hand in the hand of a fellow man in need and the other in the hand of Christ, He could get across the vacuum and I became an agent. Then the passage, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," came to have real meaning. As I worked on projects which fulfilled a real human need forces were working through me which amazed me. I would often go to sleep with an apparently insoluble problem. When I woke the answer was there. Why, then, should we who believe in Christ be so surprised at what God can do with a willing man in a laboratory? Some things must be baffling to the critic who has never been born again.
William J. Federer (2003), George Washington Carver: His Life & Faith in His Own Words, p. 68., 2003
My beloved friend, keep your hand in that of the Master, walk daily by His side, so that you may lead others into the realms of true happiness, where a religion of hate, (which poisons both body and soul) will be unknown, having in its place the "Golden Rule" way, which is the "Jesus Way" of life, will reign supreme. Then, we can walk and talk with Jesus momentarily, because we will be attuned to His will and wishes, thus making the Creation story of the world non-debatable as to its reality. God, my beloved friend is infinite the highest embodiment of love. We are finite, surrounded and often filled with hate. We can only understand the infinite as we loose the finite and take on the infinite.
George Washington Carver: In His Own Words (1991), edited by Gary R. Kremer, University of Missouri Press, p. 135, 1991
I know that my Redeemer lives. Thank God I love humanity, complexion doesn't interest me one single a bit.
George Washington Carver: In His Own Words (1991), edited by Gary R. Kremer, University of Missouri Press, p. 131, 1991
I do not feel capable of writing a single word of counsel to those dear young people, more than to say that my heart goes out to every one of them, regardless of the fact that I have never seen them and may never do so. I want them to find Jesus, and make Him a daily, hourly, and momently part of themselves. O how I want them to get the fullest measure of happiness and success out of life. I want them to see the Great Creator in the smallest and apparently the most insignificant things about them. How I long for each one to walk and talk with the Great Creator through the things he has created. How I thank God every day that I can walk and talk with Him.
George Washington Carver: In His Own Words (1991), edited by Gary R. Kremer, University of Missouri Press, p. 135, 1991
Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater. Keep your thoughts free from hate, and you need have no fear from those who hate you.
Quoted in Linda O. McMurray, George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol (Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 107, 1982
Artifacts (15)
George Washington Carver and Student
Clifton Johnson
The whole secret of my getting on, lay with my mother.
d by his single mother, a strong woman who was determined that her children would succeed. In 1933, he said of her, "The whole secret of my getting on, lay with my mother." Baden-Powell attended Rose...
Lay up all day. Read Mein Kampf. A wonderful book, with good ideas on education,...
nd workmen's outdoor recreations which he imposed through 'moral force'." On 17 October 1939, Baden-Powell wrote in his diary: "Lay up all day. Read Mein Kampf. A wonderful book, with good ideas on...
small, stout, human and genial. Told me about Balilla and workmen's outdoor recr...
f Baden-Powell's diary entries. Baden-Powell met Benito Mussolini on 2 March 1933, and in his diary described him as "small, stout, human and genial. Told me about Balilla and workmen's outdoor...
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