George Washington Carver For centuries scientists have expanded the many discoveries within the chemistry community that have provided the world with educational and personal impact. George Washington Carver was a man of honor and help that developed beneficial services to farmers and slaves during his time. He dedicated his life to research projects that over time changed Southern farmers declining economic crisis. “The products he derived from the peanut and the soybean revolutionized the economy of the South by liberating it from an excessive dependence on cotton” (“George Washington carver”, 1993). From being a teacher to well known advocate, Carver was influential man that committed his life to helping others no matter the circumstances. This led him to the developments of methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discoveries of new uses for crops like the peanut helped transform the agricultural economy of the South.
Although born into slavery, George Washington Carver became one of the nation’s greatest educators and agricultural researchers/chemist. With a childhood illness that could have taken his life, Carver worked hard as a child with household chores and gardening. His keen interest in learning how to read, write, and spell took Carver to high places that all African American children dreamed of. He worked hard to get into college where many schools declined him because of his skin color. Regardless of such disappointing reasons, his determination and perseverance did not stop him and led him to become Iowa State’s first African American Faculty member. Even though being part of a big university’s educational program he was constantly belittled because of his race. Despite these difficulties he was forced to face he never abandoned his studies and over the years broadened his intelligence of botany and plant pathology. This devotion drove him to publish several articles that allowed him to achieve newly found respect from the nation. Within two years he was invited by Booker T. Washington to be a part of the Tuskegee Institute faculty, where he remained for the rest of his life. “Carver was the only black in America to have received advanced training in scientific agriculture. He was the only teacher at Tuskegee with a degree from a white college and was the institute's highest paid professor” (Clue, Cornejo, Foster, Galiffa, Gilman & Hitchcock, 2006). His ability to captivate and inspire his students and co-workers made him feel proud of what all the obstacles that had tried to stop him at had only pushed him farther to complete what he was born to do. With his driven heart to help people he wanted to continue his work but in a larger aspect.
Carver set out to do more research made time to perform experiments along with his teachings at Tuskegee. “He conducted experiments in soil management and crop production and directed an experimental farm” ("George Washington Carver", 2012). He learned that agriculture in the Deep South was in trouble leaving the soil of an abundant of fields worthless and the farmlands were no longer able to produce cotton. Carver was provided with ten acres of the unfit soil to make better. By planting cow peas he discovered that this put nitrogen back in the soil which would produce food for the plants to eat and grow. He then planted more cotton and learned that he could grow more cotton than what he planted. This life changing discovery lead Carver to conclusion that farmers could not plant the same crop after one another and that they needed to do a “crop rotation” which would allow the soil to stay rich. “Carver urged Southern farmers to plant peanuts and soybeans, which, since they belong to the legume family, could restore nitrogen to the soil while also providing the protein so badly needed in the diet of many Southerners” (George Washington Carver”, 2012). The peanut marked Carver’s fame and made it a most important factor with the help of freeing the South from its dependency on cotton. But another problem had arisen. The farmers focused more on the peanut crops they learned that there was a little demand in the market for them and soybeans. Carver expanded his research in response to this situation and created programs of laboratory research to enlarge the profitable possibilities of peanuts and sweet potatoes. With this newly addition of the many developments Carver had produced he created over 300 products derived from peanuts and sweet potatoes. With joyous praises from the local farmers, Carver went public with his discoveries and caused an increasing amount of incomes and demands for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and their derivatives. This generated the South as a major supplier of agricultural products. Peanuts were never recognized as crop, nonetheless a profitable one, and later became the second leading cash crop all throughout the South and United States. “Carver's efforts had finally helped liberate the South from its excessive dependence on cotton” (“George Washington Carver”, 2012). When the time was needed, Carver was an agriculturalist advocate. His economical improvements led Southern farmers to fight for their crops to achieve an income to support themselves and family.
Throughout the early and mid 1900’s, Carver’s research was remarkably known for its diversity because of the production of many products, the use of peanuts as a crop is mainly known. To some people the historical value of the peanut is nothing more than a little snack that helped produce some oils and peanut butter. But there is more depth to it than that. Without the production of the peanut farmers would have never fixed their crops and all of farming would have been lost. The derivatives that are significantly used to this day would have never been discovered and human would not have anything to look forward to when it comes to eating. Carver made a momentous impact on how human beings utilize the Earth’s natural resources. His developments and discoveries opened the eyes of many to the different natural and environmental benefits. His ideas revolutionized agriculture in the South. His techniques of “crop rotation” that he constructed informed famers on how grow better and improve their production. Not only did his tremendous findings help the South in their time of need in to 1900’s, but to this day farmers are still using his ideas to help save their crops.
It was said that because of his gardening duties that were performed as chores as a child they lead him to his interests in plants. This sparked the name the “plant doctor” throughout the land near his home. But it was art that led Carver to wanting to receive a more formal education in college. His true love for plants was later revealed and transformed him into becoming one of the nation’s renowned agriculture chemist that changed the lives of many. “Many scientists thought of Carver more as a concoctionist than as a contributor to scientific knowledge” (“George Washington Carver”, 20112). He was an astonishing man that acknowledged relationships between plants and human beings. He taught his students that the world was one. His desire to inspire and encourage the world changed lives and let people know that with hard work you can accomplish just about anything. "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither; he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world" (Anderson, 2003). Being an African American during his time he attacked barriers that most people of the same ethnicity would never approach. His impacts on societies led to more developments within the farming community and altered it as a whole completely.

References:
(1993). George washington carver. Retrieved from http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/carver_g.htm
Anderson, A. (2003). Carver, george washington. Retrieved from http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper83.html
Clue, D., Cornejo, A., Foster, K., Galiffa, D., Gilman, H., & Hitchcock, K. (2006). George washington carver. Retrieved from http://www.csupomona.edu/~nova/scientists/articles/carver.html
Fishbein, T. (2007). The legacy of geroge washington carver. Retrieved from http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html
George Washington Carver. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 06:30, Feb 20, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299