George Washington Carver: A LifeNearly every American can cite at least one of the accomplishments of George Washington Carver. The many tributes honoring his contributions to scientific advancement and black history include a national monument bearing his name, a U.S.-minted coin featuring his likeness, and induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Born into slavery, Carver earned a master’s degree at Iowa State Agricultural College and went on to become that university’s first black faculty member. A keen painter who chose agricultural studies over art, he focused the majority of his research on peanuts and sweet potatoes. His scientific breakthroughs with the crops—both of which would replenish the cotton-leached soil of the South—helped spare multitudes of sharecroppers from poverty. Despite Carver’s lifelong difficulties with systemic racial prejudice, when he died in 1943, millions of Americans mourned the passing of one of the nation’s most honored and well-known scientists. Scores of children’s books celebrate the contributions of this prolific botanist, but no biographer has fully examined both his personal life and career until now. |
Contents
Booker | |
Dominion of Poverty | |
Stand Up for the Stupid and Crazy | |
Love and Lynch Mobs | |
A Real Chemist? | |
Passion Pure and Simple | |
Suffering Humanity | |
Fame and Its Discontents | |
Miles to | |
A Million Thanks | |
Epilogue | |
Experiment Station Bulletins by George W Carver | |
Wrestling with Devils | |
Bad Days and Worse | |
The Curtain Lifts | |
Trying to Be Serious | |
Partial List of Carvers Products from Peanuts and Sweet Potatoes compiled by Carver | |
Dr Joseph Kenneys Letter to Booker T Washington | |