George Washington Carver, 1864–1943

George Washington Carver, 1864 – 1943

Father of Modern Agriculture

“When I was young, I said to God, God, tell me the mystery of the universe. But God answered, that knowledge is for me alone. So I said, God, tell me the mystery of the peanut. Then God said, well, George, that’s more nearly your size.” — George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was born into slavery during the Civil War. He worked to put himself through school, eventually earning a Masters Degree from Iowa State in Agriculture. He then became a professor at the Tuskegee Institute where he made incredible discoveries and became the most prominent black scientist of the early 20th century.

Carver had a deep Christian faith and contributed his ideas to his communion with God stating that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science. “Human need is really a great spiritual vacuum which God seeks to fill … With one hand in the hand of a fellow man in need and the other in the hand of Christ, He could get across the vacuum … Then the passage, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,’ came to have real meaning.”

Carver is credited with discovering hundreds of uses for the peanut (including peanut butter and 300 other uses), soybean, sweet potato (200+ uses), pecan, cowpea, wild plum, and okra, which helped to revolutionize the South’s economy.

"Never since have I been without this consciousness of the Creator speaking to me….The out of doors has been to me more and more a great cathedral in which God could be continuously spoken to and heard from."