George Washington Carver Research Paper

George Washington once stated, “Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and most noble employment of man.” Agriculture has always been one of the most, if not the most, depended on industry for humans to survive. For over 12,000 years, farming practices have been used as a reliable food source. Farming has been practiced almost everywhere in the world, and has created a food source from the domestication of plants, such as rice, corn, and soybeans as well as animals, such as cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry ("The Development of Agriculture."). After the American Civil War and post-reconstruction, the 2nd Industrial Revolution created many agricultural developments, and advancements, including the first gas-powered tractor, the redesigned

Carver was born in the year 1864, as a slave. At just weeks old, Confederates kidnapped the family. All but George, who was brought back to Missouri and taken in by a family who taught him to read and write, were sold. Throughout his childhood, Carver was always experimenting. He loved working with plants, and soon began experimenting with pesticides and fungicides. He later left the farm at the age of 13, to work at a hotel, where he made many new food recipes. After a few years there, he applied to a college in Kansas. His application was accepted but when he arrived, they turned him away for being black. He later got accepted and attended Simpson College in Iowa, where he became the first black student to enroll at the college. Here, he was encouraged to attend Iowa State University to study Botany. He became the first African-American to receive Bachelor of Science in 1894, and then went on to become part of the faculty at the college. Carver then worked the rest of his life at Tuskegee Institute. As previously stated, Carver wanted to help the farmers in the South. He began by introducing ideas such as crop rotation between peanuts and cotton, allowing for nitrogen and other important nutrients to return back into the soil that cotton had previously removed. The problem with this was that there was a large amount of peanuts that were starting to rot and go to waste. Carver started to search new uses for this large surplus and ended with over 300 different uses including insulation, paper, peanut butter, soap, and others. After settling problems with his crop rotation, he looked to diversify the south in other ways. He focused on plants that returned nutrients to the soil such as sweet potatoes, and allowed many rural farms to find greater success and more profit. Carver had many popular quotes