George Washington Carver
Profile
George Washington Carver was a man born into slavery who rose to become one of the greatest minds of his time. George was born in Missouri and was only a week old before he was stolen away and sold in Kentucky. He lived many different place, some of choice, but often left out of necessity. He did however have enough support that he was able to attend college, starting at Simpson College* (after being denied in Kansas because of his color). At Simpson his artist skills stood out, but also an emerging interest in botany. His professors encouraged him to learn botany at Iowa State University**, where he earned his masters.
He worked at the Tuskegee Institute and here is where he made his advancements in the science of soil depletion, something good Iowa farmers know all about. Soil was depleted from years of cotton planting, and he encouraged planting of peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes as replacements, which also helped the livelihood of those farmers as well.
* Other Simpson Alumni with cards: Evan Tanner (UFC), Ben Blake/David Teske/Jeff Cronin/Joel Johnston (MiLB)
** Other important Cyclones : Clarence Chamberlin (aviator), Carrie Chapman Catt (suffragette), Clayton Anderson (astronaut), Lee Teng-hui (President of Taiwan), and Henry Wallace (Vice President to FDR)
Personal Notes
A person on Twitter who I followed recently posted a poll where he asked what attributed most to your success. The three options were approximately: hard work, skill, luck. Hard work won, luck was second and skill was third. (not a surprise, people chose the one they can control) I thought about this when reading about George. Obviously a hard worker because being the first to do something is always hard. Obviously skilled as he went to school for art and came out a master in agriculture. Then there is luck, which he obviously had a ton of as well. Born into slavery, but slavery was outlawed soon after. Kidnapped, but retrieved. Lucky to have an education. Blessed to have people see his talent and push him to greatness. Really the answer to the question is all three, and we are lucky that George had all three.
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