George Washington Carver, nicknamed “The plant doctor”, was a researcher, educator, and inventor in the late 1800s to the early 1900s.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWgjYBFERgI Carver's agricultural research led to the stimulation of the South’s failing agricultural economy, as well as the rejuvenation of the soils that had been stripped of nutrients by the single crop farming of cotton. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print Carver was not overly concerned with his impact on the racial politics of the time; he worked simply to serve humanity and strove to improve the life of the poor black sharecroppers of the South. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print In so doing he changed farming practices across the whole southern region of the United States. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print

Carver was visited by presidents Calvin Coolidge and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and turned down a chance to work with Thomas Edison later in his life.http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print He was friends with such men as Henry Ford and Mohandas Ghandi, and he turned down an invitation by Stalin to visit Russia and tour the Soviet Union. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print

Born the son of a slave between 1861 and 1864, Carver was a frail child that was unable to work in the fields. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html He therefore worked in the garden and at household chores on the Moses Carver Plantation in Diamond Grove, MO. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html Around the age of 10 he left the plantation and traveled the South searching for knowledge. He worked as a farm hand, hotel cook, homesteader and handyman. He was able to complete a high school education in Minneapolis, Kansas.http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print

In 1890 he enrolled in Simpson College, Iowa, where he studied piano and art. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html His talents in horticulture were soon recognized and he became the first African American to enroll in Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (today Iowa State University) where he earned a bachelors degree in 1894 and a masters in 1896. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html In 1896 he went to work for Booker T. Washington at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where he stayed for the rest of his life. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html

George Washington Carver was the first African American to become a faculty member at Iowa State University. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html Through his research at the Tuskegee Institute he created more that 325 products from peanuts, including cheese, milk, coffee, flour, ink, dyes, plastics, soap, linoleum, oils, and cosmetics. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print He also researched products that could be made from the sweet potato and found that over 100 things could be made, including flour, vinegar, rubber and postage stamp glue. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print He created hundreds more products from other plants of the South. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html

In 1914 when the boll weevil brought southern cotton production to a virtual standstill, Carver’s research into peanuts and sweet potatoes helped the South become a major supplier of agricultural products. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print The peanut, virtually unknown in 1896, became one of the six leading crops throughout the United States. http://www.biography.com/articles/George-Washington-Carver-9240299?print

Not only was Carver a researcher and teacher, his poetry was published in student newspapers and two of his paintings were shown at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html

• George Washington Carver Museum at the Tuskegee Institutehttp://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts from the scientific body in Great Britain—1916http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/00_01/bh/gwc/gwc.htm
• Spingarn Medal-1923http://www.east-buc.k12.ia.us/00_01/bh/gwc/gwc.htm
• 1938 film ‘’Life of George Washington Carver’’http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• Roosevelt Medal for Outstanding Contribution to South Agriculture-1939
• National monument in Diamond Grove, Mo. http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• Commemorative postage stamps 1947, 1998http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• 50 cent coin—1951http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• Hall of Fame for Great Americans—1977http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• National Inventors Hall of Fame—1990http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• Doctor of Humane Letters—1994http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• USDA Hall of Fame—2000http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
• Nominee for “The Greatest American” –Discovery Channel Series 2005http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html