Celebrating George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver (c. 1861-1943). Born into slavery, Carver was an extraordinary American scientist whose contributions have profoundly impacted the world. He was best-known for his work as an inventor and innovator for agricultural products particularly for peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes. The ways in which Carver introduced and implemented these agricultural products contributed to rural economic improvement, particularly for black farmers, and soil health during the nineteenth and twentieth century. I would also like to add genius, artist, and Iowa State’s very first African American student, graduate, and faculty member to this list of descriptions of Carver.
Carver’s interest in nature and plants developed early and by the age of 12 he was known in the local farming community as “the plant doctor”. Once he was old enough, Carver applied to several colleges and was accepted at Highland University in Highland, Kansas. When he arrived at Highland University, he was refused entry due to his race. After his admittance was denied, Carver made his way to Iowa in 1890 to strengthen his artistic practice by studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola. His art teacher, Etta Budd (also a previous Farm House resident), recognized his talents for painting flowers and plants and suggested that he study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University).
Carver took Etta Budd’s advice to heart and arrived at Iowa State in 1891. While studying at Iowa State, Carver interacted with botanical luminaries like Louis Pammel, who convinced Carver to continue his education at Iowa State. Although Carver’s attention was now focused on the scientific realm, we know that Carver still dabbled in the arts as we have a 1890-1893 green glazed ceramic vase made by Carver in the University Museum’s permanent collection.
Ultimately, Carver took Pammel’s counsel and Carver went on to receive his Masters from Iowa State in 1896. During this period of his life, Carver worked under Pammel at the Iowa Experiment Station studying plant pathology and mycology. With a Master’s degree in-hand and a significant understanding in botany and horticulture, Carver was able to become the first black teaching faculty member at Iowa State. Carver’s scientific talents and successful teaching at Iowa State were quickly noticed by the outside world, particularly Booker T. Washington, first president of the Tuskegee Institute. Washington had been observing Carver’s achievements from afar, and eventually invited Carver to head the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee University.
Carver accepted the offer posed by Washington in 1896 and moved his life and career to Tuskegee, Alabama. He spent the next 47 years developing the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee University into a robust research center. Besides his regular duties as the head of the department, Carver was busy teaching methods of crop rotation, introducing alternative cash crops for farmers whose fields were striped of nutrients after years of planting cotton, and inaugurated crop product research at Tuskegee’s Agricultural Experiment Station.
Carver found personal satisfaction in the act of scientific discovery and actively used his talents (and eventually his highly visible public figure platform thanks to admirers like Theodore Roosevelt) to make the world a better place for farmers and black sharecroppers. Iowa State has keenly and lovingly preserved the legacy of George Washington Carver in a multitude of ways: from Parks Library housing a completely digital collection of Carver images and correspondence between Carver and Iowa State colleagues, to the George Washington Carver Summer Research Internship program to numerous artworks and memorial in the University Museums collection honoring Carver’s scientific and artist legacy.
If you look at Iowa State's campus today you can feel and see the impacts Carver made to our community. Witness this for yourself by scrolling through photos of the University Museum’s collection that honor and empower George Washington Carver’s world changing vision and legacy.
