George Washington Carver

Have you ever run out of ink, during the middle of class? George Washington Carver could have solved your problem. Mr. Carver was known to Americans as the "peanut man," (Smith 179) because of his accomplishments with that food. He has had many other accomplishments, too, but none as famous as what he could do with peanuts. Mr. Carver could have made almost anything out of ordinary food and materials. During World War One, Carver was called upon to provide us with needed dyes. For all of Mr. Carver's achievements, he was awarded many honorary prizes. If he had to go on Survivor, he would make it through with as little as was given to him, because nothing was ever "not enough."

In the early 1900s, when the expression "peanut man" was mentioned, George Washington Carver was the first person to come to mind. Carver made a lot of different things, by just using peanuts. All of his accomplishments with peanuts have changed things that we have today. Face powder, butter, cheese, milk, ink, soap and stains; are just a couple of things that Mr. Carver could make from peanuts. Since Carver had the ability to do all of this with peanuts, he was called upon for expertise in this field. All of these discoveries of peanuts started "in his meager laboratory, [where] Carver concentrated his research on the peanut..." (Smith 179).

Carver made it big, not only by researching peanuts, but experimenting with many other natural resources. He used clay from Macon County and Alabama to make stains for farm houses. The colors that he extracted from this clay were red, blue, and purple. In addition to the use of clay, Carver used cotton stalks to make many other necessities. Cotton acted as a great start product to make starch, gums, and dextrins. Using sweet potatoes and pecans either separate or together, he made over 150 different products. This, in turn, has helped the people of our times to make a lot from just a little.

During World War I, Carver was called upon to make dyes. Since the United States was in war with Germany, our supplies were cut off from them. Consequently, we ran out of dyes to use for all of our needs. Mr. Carver was our "superman" with his knowledge of plants and many other resources; he made over 500 different dyes. Mr. Carver used only