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 George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was born into slavery on a farm near Diamond Grove, Missouri. His owners raised him after raiders kidnapped and killed his mother. As a boy in the foothills of the Ozarks, he fell in love with nature and learned that plants could be used to make medicines for man. He learned that even the most insignificant scrap of trash could find new life and usefulness.
George Washington Carver was a devout man of God who at an early age dedicated his talents and intelligence to God's Word and work. His long time friend and research assistant, Dr. Austin Curtis, once said this about him.
“Dr. Carver was a very religious man, but he was pragmatic with it, and he would say that God gave man a brain to use, if he would be wise, and then to find out why these things exist on the Earth for the benefit of mankind.”
Carver attended Tuskegee Institute and became an agricultural chemist. He developed crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in the soil and discovered hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut. This created new markets for farmers in the South.
One day Carver asked God to show him the secrets of the universe. God said to his heart, “That is too big for you.” He then asked God to show him the secrets of man. God again replied, “That is too big for you.” Finally, Carver said, “Then show me the secrets of the peanut.” God said, “That is something you can handle.”
Cotton was the main cash crop of the South, but cotton quickly depleted the soil of valuable nutrients. Carver discovered that peanuts replaced the nutrients the cotton depleted. After Carver’s lead, southern farmers began planting peanuts one year and cotton the next. While many of the peanuts were used to feed livestock, large surpluses quickly developed and the price of peanuts plummeted.
In response, Carver developed 325 different uses for the peanut – from cooking oil to printers ink. When he discovered that the sweet potato and the pecan also enriched depleted soils, Carver found almost 20 uses for these crops, including synthetic rubber and material for paving highways.
 Some of Carver’s synthetic discoveries were Adhesives, Axle Grease, Bleach, Buttermilk, Cheese, Chili Sauce, Dyes, Flour, Fuel, Briquettes, Ink, Instant Coffee, Shampoo, Shoe Polish, Shaving Cream, Sugar, Marble, Rubber, Talcum Powder, Wood Stains, Wood Filler, Insulating Board, Linoleum, Mayonnaise, Meat Tenderizer, Paper, Rubbing Oils, Soil Conditioner, and Worcestershire Sauce.
As his fame spread, both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford offered Carver six-digit salaries to work for them. He chose instead to work for the improvement of the quality of life for the disenfranchised: “If I took that money, I might forget my people.”
He lived frugally, accepting only a small portion of his salary. At his death, Carver contributed his life savings to establish a research institute at Tuskegee. His birthplace was declared a national monument in 1953.
“I arise at 4 a.m. to be alone with the things I love the most – my plants and God. At no other time have I so sharp an understanding of what God means to do with me as in these hours of dawn. Where other folk are asleep, I hear God best and learn His plan.”
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