George Washington Carver: An Agricultural Scientist You Should Know About

Dear Readers,

February is Black History Month which means it is the perfect time to showcase my 3rd grade project on George Washington Carver, an African American Agricultural Scientist. He discovered “over 300 uses for peanuts” and alongside other scientists “helped establish peanut butter as the nutritious staple ingredient found in 94 percent of American households today” (National Peanut Board). No, he did not invent peanut butter, but he was a pioneer in science especially with his extensive research on peanuts and other crops. Come with me as I revisit (and maybe for you – learn!) about Carver’s life. This project was a visual recreation of the book “The Story of George Washington Carver” by Eva Moore shown below (goodreads).

My visual book cover is shown below. I really like the color and details I brought to this cover and block letters as a kid is hard, so there was some serious dedication here. The sign says “50 miles to nearest school” but as I will later mention, he was most definitely not 50 miles from the nearest school even though he did have to travel a bit for his schooling.

The first page of my book is a journal entry which gives a short overview of Carver’s life. Factually, it seems like everything checks out, but I am disappointed I spelled “science” incorrectly so many times throughout this book, haha.

Dear journal,

I am George Washington Carver. I am the main person in my life. I was born 1864.

The setting is me on my way to Neosho school, to learn because I would like to learn.

When I got older, It was hard for me to find a high-school. I finally found one that would take me. I went to collage, and took sience classes. I became a teacher, and taught sience.

I died in 1943, January 5, early in the morning. They opened up a musem about me.

Signed,

George Carver

The second page of my book has pictures and photographs. The bottom right has a drawing of little Carver walking to school with text that says “The setting is George at Neosho school.” Carver was raised in Diamond Grove, Missouri but local schools did not accept Black children. Carver ended up traveling for school to a nearby town about 10 miles away, called Neosho, later attending several other schools before graduating from high school in Minneapolis, Kansas (Wikipedia, Biography).

The bottom left of the page has a picture of the Budd family. Carver studied art and piano at Simpson College in Iowa and had a talent for painting nature. Etta Budd was Carver’s art teacher then and based on his talent, encouraged him to go study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College where her father, Joseph Budd was a professor. Carver received his bachelor’s degree and his master’s degree there (Wikipedia, Biography).

The upper left of the page has a picture of Carver working in a lab. The upper right of the page has a picture of a hand-drawn peanut with text that says “George’s major acomplishment was comming up with new ways to make things with a peanut.” After graduate school, Carver went to run the Agriculture Department at the Tuskegee Institute (now University) and spent the rest of his life in the agriculture research space (Wikipedia). One of his biggest endeavors for this work was communicating to farmers in the south different ways to grow their crops better and improve human nutrition. He created free “bulletins” or brochures and even created a mobile demo laboratory to travel to farmers and educate them (Tuskegee University). Some of the peanut products he created include: salted peanuts, peanut brittle, cooking oil, peanut hay meal, laundry soap, peanut beverage flakes, tannic acid, hand lotion, face ointment, shampoo, rubber, gasoline, glue, and many more!

The back of this page has a drawing of Carver painting. It says “This is George painting, because he loved to paint.” I thought this was a really cute picture and wanted to place it next to a real picture of him painting (Biography).

I especially like this page because it gives an overview of Carver’s interests and I added in some real artifacts. Remember when I said Carver did not invent peanut butter? Well, I never said he did not make peanut butter. It was only natural that at some point he would create peanut butter in different ways as part of his research into different uses for the crop.

“Souvenirs & momentos - George liked to paint. George studied the bible and gave speechs. George loved animals. George made peanut butter with peanuts. George loved to look at plants. George took sience and studied too.”

The last page of my book had another diary entry.

Dear Diary,

This is the story of my life. I was born as a slave. Adoped by Susan and Moses Carver. I went to school and learned how to read and write. I went to high-school and Simpson Collage. I got my diploma and became a teacher. I taught Sience and plants. I retired and gave speeches at Simpson. I found many new ways to use cotton, peanuts, and sweet potatoes. The president honored me for being a great sientist.

Signed,

George Carver

As someone who was interested in science from a young age, went into the agriculture industry, and studied communication in farming (read my dissertation here!), Carver’s story resonates with me to this day. Did you do any projects for Black History Month as a kid?

Sincerely, Dr. Carter

George Washington Carver, circa 1910