George Washington Carver

==Rise to fame==
[[File:GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER - ONE OF AMERICA'S GREAT SCIENTISTS - NARA - 535694.jpg|thumb|300px|"One of America's great scientists" – one of several Carver-centric posters by [[Charles Alston|C. H. Alston]], this one referencing the World War II effort (circa 1943)]]
Carver developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of [[cotton]]. Together with other agricultural experts, he urged farmers to restore [[nitrogen]] to their soils by practicing systematic [[crop rotation]]: alternating cotton crops with plantings of [[sweet potatoes]] or [[legumes]], such as [[peanut]]s, [[soybean]]s and [[cowpea]]s. These crops both restored nitrogen to the soil and were good for human consumption. 

Following the crop rotation practice resulted in improved cotton yields and gave farmers alternative cash crops. To train farmers to successfully rotate and cultivate the new crops, Carver developed an agricultural extension program for Alabama that was similar to the one at Iowa State. To encourage better nutrition in the South, he widely distributed recipes using the alternative crops.

He founded an industrial research laboratory, where he and assistants worked to popularize the new crops by developing hundreds of applications for them. They did original research as well as promoting applications and recipes, which they collected from others. Carver distributed his information as agricultural bulletins.

Carver's work was known by officials in the national capital before he became a public figure. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] publicly admired his work. Former professors of Carver's from Iowa State University were appointed to positions as Secretary of Agriculture: [[James Wilson (Secretary of Agriculture)|James Wilson]], a former dean and professor of Carver's, served from 1897 to 1913. [[Henry Cantwell Wallace]] served from 1921 to 1924. He knew Carver personally because his son [[Henry A. Wallace]] and the researcher were friends.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/friends/friends8.html |title=The legacy of George Washington Carver – Friends & Colleagues (Henry Wallace |date=January 31, 2007 |website=iastate.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415211140/http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/friends/friends8.html |archive-date=April 15, 2009}}</ref> The younger Wallace served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1933 to 1940, and as [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]]'s vice president from 1941 to 1945.

The American industrialist, farmer, and inventor [[William C. Edenborn]] of [[Winn Parish, Louisiana|Winn Parish]], [[Louisiana]], grew peanuts on his demonstration farm. He consulted with Carver.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.org/la/winn/bios/edenborn.txt |title=Greggory E. Davies, William Edenborn of Winn Parish, LA |publisher=files.usgwarchives.org |access-date=October 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316221924/http://files.usgwarchives.org/la/winn/bios/edenborn.txt |archive-date=March 16, 2012}}</ref>

In 1916, Carver was made a member of the [[Royal Society of Arts]] in England, one of only a handful of Americans at that time to receive this honor. Carver's promotion of peanuts gained him the most notice.

By 1920, the U.S. peanut farmers were being undercut by low prices on imported peanuts from the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Skrabec |first=Quentin R. Jr. |date=2013 |title=The Green Vision of Henry Ford and George Washington Carver |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32Fa9lCDjSwC&pg=PA95 |location=Jefferson, NC |publisher=McFarland & Company |page=94 |isbn=978-0-7864-6982-6 |via=[[Google Books]] |ref={{sfnRef|Skrabec}}}}</ref> In 1921, peanut farmers and industry representatives planned to appear at Congressional hearings to ask for a [[tariff]].{{sfn|Skrabec|page=95}} Based on the quality of Carver's presentation at their convention, they asked the African-American professor to testify on the tariff issue before the [[House Ways and Means Committee|Ways and Means Committee]] of the [[United States House of Representatives]].{{sfn|Skrabec|page=95}} Due to [[Racial segregation|segregation]], it was highly unusual for an African American to appear as an expert witness, but Carver appeared and unpacked numerous exhibits and samples to make his case for greater food and industrial uses for the peanut.{{sfn|Skrabec|page=95}} Southern congressmen mocked him, but as he talked about the importance of the peanut and its uses for American agriculture and manufacturing, committee members repeatedly extended the time for his testimony.{{sfn|Skrabec|pages=95–96}} The [[Fordney–McCumber Tariff]] was enacted in 1922, and included a duty on imported peanuts.{{sfn|Skrabec|page=96}} Carver's testimony, including samples of peanut milk, peanut flour, industrial dyes made from peanuts, and other peanut-based products, made him widely known as a public figure.{{sfn|Skrabec|page=96}}