The invention of Peanut Butter was just the tip of the iceberg.
Want an incredible example of a proactive problem solver to peacefully create change!? You may know that George Washington Carver invented 325+ ways to use peanuts, and 100+ inventions for sweet potatoes. But do you know the reason WHY??
Want to Join my online book club to discuss GWC’s Genius and these books? It’s geared for families Elementary age and up but anyone that wants to learn and be respectful can join. On your FB page, Request to join my private FB @Strength.through.stories
Read on for some of my favorite insights I learned from:
The Story of George Washington Carver” by Eva Moore (Scholastic biography)
Post-civil war black Americans were struggling in poverty, share cropping kept them in debt, while growing only what they knew how to grow- cotton- and basically starving.
Cotton depleted the soil of nitrogen which was destroying the soil and future farming possibilities. So, he found that sweet potatoes and peanuts put nitrogen into the soil BUT there was little market for growing either.
So what did he do? Created a market! He Created a reason– for people to want to buy more peanuts and sweet potatoes by using them to invent 100’s of every day uses: foods, paints, soap, flours, cosmetics, medicines, ink, wood stain, face creams, oils +. As the demand increased for sweet potatoes and peanuts, So did the possibilities for profit + sustainable soil= road out of poverty to self reliance! Genius!
GWC’s fame and work at the Tuskegee Institute spread all over the world until Thomas Edison offered him a huge salary to come work for him in his lab. But GWCarver refused, knowing his work wouldn’t be his own and ”his people” wouldn’t get the credit if he did.
His mission was to help elevate “the man furthest down” out of poverty with the knowledge of science and agriculture.
Since most farmers could not leave work on their farms he brought his knowledge and agricultural advances to them, inventing a traveling agricultural “school on wheels”. As black Americans applied this knowledge, their ways to provide for themselves from their hard work increased.
GWC continued waking up early to walk among and “learn from God’s creations”. He often talked about respecting God’s creations and God giving him his ideas for the inventions. In fact, he often refused money 💴 for his inventions saying the ideas came from God not him. Yet what he loved best was painting God’s creations and he did so from when he was a young boy-even inventing his paints from the plants and dirt around him.
No wonder TIME magazine named him the Black Leonardo (da Vinci)
All this from a quiet gentle boy born a slave not knowing his real birthday, who’s mom was kidnapped by night raiders when he was a baby, whose thirst for knowledge carried him literally by foot, from one school to another paying his own way by doing laundry and painting, who was accepted to Highland College in Kansas and then rejected once he arrived and they saw the color of his skin. Every time he experienced racism he turned to find a way to empower himself and others with knowledge and a new invention. Eventually he became the first black person to graduate from Iowa State university. He eventually helped build and Teach at Tuskegee School in Alabama continuing to learn and invent improvements that are still used today!
His Epitaph Reads:
“He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world”
GWC has inspired and touched me and my family. Thus I truly believe this American Hero deserves to discussed with all great inventors, scientists, and social reformers in US history…all year long! Not only are his inventions and contributions to science and society a blessing to all of us but also what he did about the racism he encountered all of his life. He still has much to teach us today!
*Favorite books from this collection *
Early readers:
“George Washington Carver” by Luke Colins published by Capstone press
“I want to be a scientist like George Washington Carver” by Vickie Ahlstrom Illust by Jeffrey Merrill
Elementary School Age:
“A weed is a flower” by ALIKI
*“A picture book of George Washington Carver” by David Adler Illust by Dan Brown
“George Washington Carver Scientist and Teacher” By Carol Greene a Rookie biography
“George Washington Carver” A Picture Book Biography by Tonya Bolden @scholastic
Middle Grades+:
*“The Story of George Washington Carver” by Eva Moore (Scholastic biography)
George Washington Carver: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History
or listen to it in an hour here
Wondering what other Black scientists bless our lives every day? Read more “Black Inventors that changed the world”
Want to find more depth and perspectives on history? Find more 2Sides2History stories at http://strengththroughstories.com/storiesbytopic
Want to Join my online book club to discuss these books? It’s geared for families Elementary age and up but anyone that wants to learn and be respectful can join. Request to join my private FB @Strength.through.stories
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