Product Description
Representing Missouri, the third Innovation dollar of 2024 honors agricultural scientist, George Washington Carver. Born about 1864 into slavery in Diamond, Missouri, Carver pursued education from an early age. He became the first African American student at Iowa State, from which he would earn both a bachelor of science and master's degree. In 1896, Carver would go on the run the Tuskegee Institute's agricultural department.
Following the abolition of slavery, many formerly enslaved small-scale farmers struggled to thrive on nutrient-depleted land due to single-crop overuse. Professor Carver knew that his lessons on crop rotation and practical farming could help if they could reach beyond his classrooms at Tuskegee.
In 1906, he designed and built the Jessup Wagon, a laboratory on wheels used to visit Southern farming communities and provide demonstrations and pamphlets. These efforts helped improve yields, earn profits, and save livelihoods with soil-enriching crops like the peanut, which Carver used to develop more than 300 products and uses. His research and outreach not only improved the lives of individual American farmers but changed the agricultural landscape forever.