Exhibit shows how Carver was ahead of his time
George Washington Carver remains one of the better-known and least understood names in American history.
Contrary to popular belief, Carver did not invent peanut butter. People had been eating it in many cultures for centuries.
Born into slavery, Carver was, however, a pioneer. He pushed to create new products out of plants, including bio-fuel, long before ethanol became common at the gas pump.
He demonstrated how to practice sustainable, chemical-free agriculture, long before "organic" became an advertising slogan.
In short, he was "green" years before that word came to mean more than just a crayon-box color.
As a new exhibit at the Field Museum explains, Carver worked not for his own fortune, but out of a love of learning and compassion for the common man.
Opening Friday to mark Black History Month, the exhibit features 150 of Carver's personal possessions, including his chemistry equipment, teaching displays and aspects of his little-known artistic side, including his guitar and artwork.
Born a slave in Missouri in 1864, Carver lost his mother to slave raiders but was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and raised as a foster son by his former owners.
As a boy, he collected rocks and plants and kept his own secret garden, while yearning to learn more than what he could from the one spelling book he had. At 13, he left home to seek an education.
Struggling through racist bans from his college cafeteria and dorms, Carver earned a degree and taught at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
There, Carver took his knowledge of agriculture into the fields to teach sharecroppers better farming methods.
Instead of relying solely on dwindling cotton, Carver advocated crop rotation, planting peanuts and soybeans to replenish the soil.
To make the most of such crops, Carver found new ways to use them, from buttermilk to shoe polish and shaving cream.
By the time of World War II, as the country was forced to ration petroleum, Carver became the father of the Chemurgy Movement, using agriculture to make industrial products like fuel.
Carver testified as an expert before Congress and was inducted into Britain's Royal Society for Arts.
While Carver has been criticized for accommodating racism rather than fighting it, the exhibit emphasizes how Carver applied his research to help fellow blacks and to overcome prejudice by example.
"He had a humanitarian mission that informed all his scientific research," exhibition developer Frank Mercurio said. "He hoped his work would benefit people in a tangible way."
George Washington Carver
What: An exhibit tracing the rise of a former slave to scientist, teacher and pioneer in making products from sustainable agriculture.
Where: Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago
When: Feb. 1 to July 6
Tickets: Free with general admission, which is free in February during Black History Month (normally $12 adults, $7 children and seniors).
Information: fieldmuseum.org or (312) 922-9410