The Life And Times Of the Peanut Man

George Washington Carver.

In this essay I will talk about the life and times of the scientist George Washington Carver. I will focus mainly on the discoveries that he did with the peanut and peanut butter. Now it is commonly believed that Carver invented Peanut Butter. This is not true Carver invented all of the uses for the commonly used sandwich spread. But first a little background information on him.

George Washington Carver was born in eighteen sixty-four to slave parents. Cravers father died before he was born leaving Carvers mother to give birth to him all alone. One night a raiding party came and stole away Carvers mother and George himself but he was later returned very sick. From that point on George would be small and sickly child. After the loss of his parents George stayed with his owners. Susan and Moses Carver. Being too small and sickly to do regular farm chores he worked in the garden, did dishes and cooked. Carver became so adept at gardening that he was given the nickname "the plant doctor." When Carver was twelve years old he left the Carvers and went to the town Neosho in Missouri to go to an all black school. To help pay his tuition he helped out with the chores that had to be done. Thus starting the long education route that Carter took.

From the period of time that George was thirteen years of age until he was around twenty-three years old he moved from place to place trying to gain more and more knowledge. In eighteen eighty-five George applied to Highland college in Kansas and was accepted. But when George arrived in Kansas they told him that Highland college did not accept black students. In eighteen eighty-nine Carver decided that he would give college another shot and he applied to Simpson college in Indianola in Iowa. After teachers noticing his accomplishments in school they told him to go to Iowa state university for agriculture. During his time in college Carver discovered ways to cross breed plants and make better crops for farmers. George graduated in eighteen ninety-four, he received his masters degree. During his masters studies he found out about the diseases that fungi carry. It is from that research that he became famous to agricultural centers around the world.

In eighteen ninety-six Carver accepted a job at Tuskegee university in Alabama. It is here that he discovered that peanuts and sweet potatoes replenish the soil as to cotton, which does not. From which he decided that there was not a big enough market for peanuts and sweet potatoes, and thus discovered three hundred ways to use peanuts and one hundred ways to use sweet potatoes. After his discoveries with the peanut and sweet potato Carver gained national fame and was asked to speak all over the country. In nineteen sixteen Carver was asked to join the advisory board of the national agriculture board, from which in nineteen eighteen he was appointed to the U.S. department of agriculture and also Carver was awarded the Spingarn medal for distinguished service by the NAACP. Sadly George Washington Carver dies on January fifth, nineteen forty-three. His body is buried on the grounds at Tuskegee University.

The accomplishments of this great man are too many to type into one paper. So I will talk about some of them and if you would like you could read a book. Some of his accomplishments were as follows: Adhesives, Axle Grease, Bleach, Buttermilk, Cheese, Chili Sauce, Ream, Creosote, Dyes, Flour, Fuel, Briquettes, Ink, Instant Coffee, Shampoo, Shoe Polish, Shaving Cream, Sugar, Marble, Rubber, Talcum Powder, Vanishing Cream, Wood Stains, Wood Filler, Insulating Board, Linoleum, Mayonnaise, Meal, Meat Tenderizer, Metal Polish, Milk Flakes, Mucilage, Paper, Rubbing Oils, Soil Conditioner, and Worcestershire Sauce.

The peanut discoveries are as follows: Sausage, salted peanuts, lemon punch, oil shampoo, new forms of peanut butter, bisque flour, meat loaf, relish. The list goes on and on. The biggest discovery was how he used the peanut. He found ways of using the spread peanut butter that you wouldn’t even think of. Edible peanut butter soup, automotive axe grease. So you can see that with out this great scientist we would not have as many luxuries as we do today. Well they have been improved upon a lot since Carvers time but without the discovery there would be nothing.

Elliot, Lawrence George Washington Carver: The Man

Who Overcame. Prentice Hall 1966

Graham, Shirley, and George D. Lipscomb. Dr. George

Washington Carver: Scientist. Julian Messener. 1944

Holt, Rackham. George Washington Carver: An American

Biography. Doubleday, 1943

Krapp, Kristine. Notable Black American Scientists

Kremer, Gary R., ed. George Washington Carver: In His

And Symbol. Oxford University Press, 1981

http://www.cr.nps.gov/csd/exhibits/tuskegee/gwcgallery.htm