George Washington Carver

Carver believed that nothing existed without a purpose—even himself. After accepting a position at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), he arrived in the South convinced that his mission was to serve humanity.

The Tuskegee Institute
Segregation, violence, and economic oppression characterized life for most Southern blacks when Booker T. Washington began building the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in the 1880s.

Carver and Washington shared the belief that blacks should achieve economic independence before working for political and social equality. Under Washington’s direction, the Tuskegee Institute became a haven in a hostile landscape, a place where African Americans could embark on the road to independence.

Challenges at Tuskegee
Carver had spent most of his life among people who treated him as special and gifted, so it was a shock when some of the faculty at Tuskegee met him with suspicion and disdain.

Carver wasn’t Southern, and he came from a white school. His demands for what some considered special treatment only made things worse. Feeling unappreciated, Carver sought recognition and friendship from white society, widening the rift with his colleagues—a rift that would never fully close.
“No race can prosper until it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” —Booker T. Washington

“No race can prosper until it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” —Booker T. Washington

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