As head of the Agricultural Department for the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, (Tuskegee University), for almost 50 years, Mr. Carver developed more than 300 uses for peanuts, 100 uses for sweet potatoes and 100 uses for pecans. He patented only 3 out of 500 agricultural based inventions stating, “God gave them to me. How can I charge anyone else?” Mr. Carver helped local black farmers fight against poverty and malnutrition by teaching them to rotate crops to increase production. Through his studies he learned that the more lucrative cotton plant absorbed nitrogen from the soil while certain pea plants added nitrogen to top soils. He taught farmers that by rotating between cotton and pea crops, they could keep soil nutrient levels high and increased crop yields. When market prices dropped due the higher number of peanuts being sold, Mr. Carver developed additional uses for the peanut. These advances helped black farmers maintain nutritious diets. In 1916 Mr. Carver was appointed to the Royal Society of Arts in London, England. In 1923 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, (NAACP) awarded Mr. Carver the Spingarn Medal. Throughout his life Mr. Carver was offered large sums of money to teach or do research for better known and better equipped institutions. He chose instead to stay at Tuskegee and focus his efforts on helping African Americans in the south improve their living conditions.
PICTURES: Top Row: George Washington Carver. Second Row L: Funeral. Second Row R: Grave Third Row: Close ups of grave.
INTERRED: Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama SUBMITTED: October 2, 2009. Pictures taken August 5, 2009.
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