George Washington Carver — The Peanut Wizard
George Washington Carver was born into slavery around 1864. After slavery ended, he became one of America's greatest scientists despite facing extreme racism and poverty.
Carver discovered over 300 uses for peanuts! He made peanut butter, peanut oil, peanut flour, and even peanut-based plastics, dyes, and gasoline. He also found 118 uses for sweet potatoes, including flour, vinegar, and rubber.
But Carver's greatest achievement was SAVING Southern farming. Farmers had been growing only cotton, which drained the soil of nutrients. Carver taught them to ROTATE crops — planting peanuts and sweet potatoes between cotton seasons to restore the soil. This simple idea saved millions of acres of farmland!
Carver never patented most of his inventions. He said: God gave them to me. How can I sell them to someone else?