George Washington Carver National Monument Established 

U.S. #953

On July 14, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt committed $30,000 toward a monument to botanist and inventor George Washington Carver. Though it would not be completed for a decade, it was the first national monument to honor an African American and non-president.

Born during the Civil War, Carver’s parents were slaves working for the Carver family in Missouri. When his parents died, the Carvers raised him as their own child. Carver was bright and went on to earn a Master’s in agriculture. He discovered new ways to plant seeds that would improve fertility of the soil. He also found new ways to use certain crops. Carver became known as the “Peanut Man” for his work with the plant, creating more than 300 different products from it.

The 210-acre George Washington Carver National Monument opened in July 1953. The grounds include his boyhood home and a nature trail, cemetery, and museum.

Click here to add this stamp – and its history – to your collection.

Did you like this article? Click here to rate:
Share this Article

4 Comments

  1. I think that George Washington Carver did more for the People of the United States, and his race than did Harriett Tubman, and would have been an excellent image to place on the $20.00 bill. The difficulty in honoring black patriots and innovators is that too little is taught about them in School. There are so many good candidates that I would have found it extremely difficult to select one. A few that come to mind are Frederick O. Douglass, Isabella Baumfree, and yes, even Rosa Parks. Don’t know who Isabella Baumfree is? Look up Sojourner Truth. There is a wealth of interesting and inspiring black history to learn and respect. The lives of these early pioneers were fraught with difficulties that many cannot even imagine. Being a slave, beaten sometimes daily, having NO rights or freedoms except those of your “owner”. Slavery was a dark time in American History, caused in large part by the Europeans trying to make money by enslaving the poor and destitute in small villages of Africa and exporting them to the United States (and other countries) for profit. Slavery is as much a blight on United States history as it should be on the rest of the world that promoted it, condoned it, and partook of it for profit.

  2. Gee ! You mean that the United States didn’t invent slavery; as one of our US Senators recently claimed ?

  3. Someday I’d like to visit this 210-acre memorial to Dr. Carver, if I could figure out where it is. The article doesn’t say.

    Too bad Dr. Carver and Jimmy Carter lived at different times. If they had crossed paths, they would certainly have had much in the way of peanut lore to share.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *