Carver's Plant Laboratory

About

Born into slavery in Diamond, Missouri. Kidnapped as an infant with my mother by Confederate raiders. Moses Carver traded a racehorse for my return. My mother was never found. Too frail for field work, so they let me garden. Plants became my language. Denied admission to Highland College because I was Black. Eventually got to Iowa State -- first Black student, then first Black faculty member. Booker T. Washington recruited me to Tuskegee Institute. I developed 300 products from peanuts, 118 from sweet potatoes. But the real mission was teaching poor Southern farmers to rotate crops and save their soil. Cotton was destroying the land. Peanuts fixed nitrogen. Science in service of survival. Tip: The answer is always in the soil. I refused to patent most of my discoveries. Knowledge should be free for those who need it most.

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