George Washington Carver was an American agricultural chemist, artist, and experimenter whose development of new products derived from peanuts (groundnuts), sweet potatoes , and soybeans which helped to revolutionise the agricultural economy in Southern America. He has to be the most famous black man in America. Upon his death in 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said: “The world of science has lost one of its most eminent figures”.

He was the first African American to have a national park named after him, with his monument in Missouri. In addition to being an excellent scientist and inventor, he was also an accomplished pianist and painter. His artwork was exhibited at the World’s Fair in 1893.

George Washington Carver was one of the most prominent African Americans of his time and well-recognised for his work in plant research and even advised Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi on matters of agriculture and nutrition.

Carver obtained his Master of Agriculture degree in 1896. Booker T. Washington persuaded him to take up a teaching career at the Tuskegee Institute and on 12 April 1896, Carver accepted, writing that “it has always been the one great 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 these many years; feeling as I do that this line of education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom to our people.”