George Washington Carver Museum

The George Washington Carver Museum was established in 1938 and became a National Historic site in 1974. It serves to educate people about George Washington Carver’s experiments and innovations and the impact he had on the food Industry. While Carver was a great scientist and was very involved with the promotion and development of peanuts, his work was also culturally and civically significant. The museum itself is located on the campus of the Tuskegee Institute, which is where Carver served as a professor and performed the majority of his experiments. The Museum dedicated to him houses his last laboratory as well as most of his inventions. 

The George Washington Carver Museum was dedicated to Carver and opened in 1941 by one of Carver's longtime friends, Henry Ford. During the construction of the museum, three car parts made from a synthetic "soybean plastic" that Carver developed were placed in its flooring. Exhibits that can be seen in the museum include the Carver Moveable School, many of his personal belongings and effects, most of his inventions, artwork made by Carver, and some specimens of crops and animals.

Carver’s education

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was born into slavery on a farm in Diamond, Missouri, and became the property of farmer Moses Carver. Following the abolition of slavery in Missouri in 1865, Moses and his wife Susan continued to raise George and taught him to read and write. Carver left the farm at the age of 11 (1875) to continue his education, until he made history by becoming the first African American to earn Bachelors (1894) and Masters (1896) degrees in the field of science. Carver was then recruited by Booker T. Washington to work for the Tuskegee Institute, where he would spend the rest of his career. The Tuskegee Institute was also the place where Carver would go on to create novel inventions such as crop rotation and the Jessup Wagon. 

The peanut man?

While at Tuskegee, Carver invented more than 300 peanut-based products. However, Carver became fascinated with peanuts mostly because he felt they could help southern tenant farmers, who were predominantly Black and farming commodity crops. The already unsustainable traditional southern cotton and tobacco farming became even more risky with the introduction of the boll weevil at the turn of the century, which could ruin entire fields of crop. Carver, who had already been looking into nitrogen-fixing crops such as legumes, peas, and soybeans, began educating people about the peanut’s use as an alternative crop. Ultimately this decision helped tenant farmers and other impoverished people because peanuts served as a nitrogen-fixing crop that would increase yields following rotation, but also as a cheap source of protein since many people couldn't afford meat at the time. 

Carver’s promotion of peanuts has also impacted the modern world. This is because peanuts serve not only as a cheap source of protein but also contain all 20 amino acids, Vitamin Q10, fiber, and many other nutrients. Consequently, peanuts fall under the category of a “superfood” and have been shown to improve heart health, diabetes, inflammation, and help prevent Alzheimer's and gallstones. The peanut also contains a unique property that many other foods cannot compete with, and that is its shelf life and ability to be stored. This allows peanuts to be used to help provide food to some of the most extreme food deserts such as the arctic, wilderness, and even space. Peanuts are also being used to help combat starvation in parts of the world where food scarcity is a problem. This can be seen in Sub Saharan Africa where peanut products are being used as Ready To Go Therapeutic Foods (RUTFS) and helping to prevent child mortality and malnutrition.

Agricultural extension education

While Carver was a great scientist and was very involved with the promotion and development of peanuts, being known simply as “the peanut guy” downplays his cultural and civil significance. Carver was a passionate teacher and wanted to help as many people as he could during his tenure at the Tuskegee Institute. Consequently, he started a mobile outreach program called the Carver Moveable School which was housed in one of Carver's inventions, the Jessup Wagon (owing its name to a financier Morgan Jessup, who gave Carver the capital to start the school). This would later evolve into the Booker T. Washington Agricultural School on wheels and would serve as a cornerstone in educating poor tenant farmers.

"It has always been the one ideal of my life to be of the greatest good to the greatest number of my people possible and to this end I have been preparing myself for these many years, feeling as I do that this line of education is the key." George Washington Carver[1]

An outspoken advocate and role model

Beyond being the first African American to earn a Bachelors in Science during the Jim Crow Era in the South, Carver was an impressive and persuasive public voice. He was awarded unlimited speaking time before a congressional committee about peanuts and was instrumental in passing the bill. His public prominence helped lay the groundwork for many future civil rights movements by serving as an example that African Americans could excel academically and influence public policy.

George Washington Carver was more than just “the peanut guy” and had a significant impact on people's health through the promotion of peanuts, civil rights, and the education and betterment of many poor tenant farmers through his mobile school. Carver was a passionate educator and a brilliant scientist and The George Washington Carver Museum houses many of his personal effects that help create a narrative over his entire life from his birth in Diamond up to his time as tenured professor at the Tuskegee Institute.

Arya, Shalini S, Akshata R Salve, and S Chauhan. “Peanuts as Functional Food: A Review.” Journal of food science and technology. Springer India, January 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4711439/#CR35

George Washington Carver, American Chemical Society. January 27th, 2005. Accessed November 30th, 2022. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/carver.html

“History of Tuskegee University.” Tuskegee University. Accessed October 24, 2022.

https://www.tuskegee.edu/about-us/history-and-mission.

History.com Editors. “George Washington Carver.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, October 27, 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/Black-history/george-washington-carver#:~:text=Carver%20died%20on%20January%205,on%20the%20Tuskegee%20Institute%20grounds.

Schoonees, Anel, Martani J Lombard, Alfred Musekiwa, Etienne Nel, and Jimmy Volmink. “Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for Home-Based Nutritional Rehabilitation of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children from Six Months to Five Years of Age.” The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, May 15, 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6537457/.

“George Washington Carver Online Museum Exhibit.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed December 6, 2022. https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/tuskegee/gwcarver/index.html. ^[1]