Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Dedicates Building in Honor of George Washington Carver
JEFFERSON CITY–In honor of the many achievements of George Washington Carver, Gov. Matt Blunt today signed Executive Order 06-08 renaming the Missouri Boulevard State Office Building the George Washington Carver State Office Building.
"Dr. George Washington Carver overcame tremendous adversity early in his life to become one of American History’s pioneering scientists. Today we recognize him as a Missouri native and as a great scientist, humanitarian and educator," Blunt said. "I am honored to dedicate the home of our state’s agriculture department to recognize and acknowledge the father of modern plant science and one of our state’s great achievers."
Carver was born a slave near Diamond Grove, Missouri in the early 1860s. At a young age he understood the value of an education and developed a keen interest in agriculture. At 11 he left his caretakers to attend school in Neosho. In 1876 Carver left the school to continue his education at various institutions in Kansas and Iowa, becoming the world renowned George Washington Carver, B.S., M.S., D.Sc., Ph.D., Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London and director of Research and Experiment at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.
In 1896 Carver accepted an invitation from Booker T. Washington to join the Tuskegee Institute and educate southern African Americans on the importance of agriculture. During his tenure at the institute, Carver stressed soil conservation through diversification of crops and crop rotation as a key to reviving soil that had become unproductive due to cotton.
Carver advocated the use of planting legumes to replace minerals depleted in the soil by cotton-growing. Carver went on to develop paint, dyes and medicinal treatments from peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans.
Carver was a modest man who once said, "I am no great person. I am no great scientist. I have only been able to point the way in a few things. After me will come those who read and interpret the signs, the great of the world. I am only the trailblazer."
For more information about Carver, visit the George Washington Carver National Monument website at http://www.nps.gov/gwca/.
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