There are so many iconic figures to celebrate during Black History Month. One such person who made significant contributions to agriculture and science was George Washington Carver.

Many people know George Washington Carver as an inventor and for his innovations with peanut butter, which resulted in the creation of more than 300 products. But George Washington Carver is a testament to overcoming adversity when all the odds are against you.

George was born into slavery in the 1860s in Newton County, Missouri. His father was killed during the Civil War. He lived on a plantation with his mother, sister, older brother and their enslavers, Moses and Susan Carver.

After slavery was abolished, Moses and Susan raised George and his older brother, James, as their own children. Susan taught George the basics of reading and writing. As a child, he was curious about everything around him. He wanted to learn how things grow, especially plants like flowers, vegetables, and trees.

George applied to several colleges and was accepted at Highland University in Kansas. However, when he arrived, the school refused to let him attend because of his race.

In 1890, George began studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. His art teacher, Etta Budd, recognized his immense talent for painting flowers and plants, so she encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College. When George enrolled in 1891, he became the first Black student at Iowa State.

After receiving his master’s degree in 1896, he became the first African American faculty member at Iowa State.

Booker T. Washington, the first principal and president of Tuskegee Institute, invited George to head the Agriculture Department in 1896. Carver taught there for 47 years. He developed the department into a strong research center, teaching about the benefits of crop rotation. He introduced several alternative cash crops for farmers that improved the soil. Generations of Black students learned his farming techniques for self-sufficiency.

With an innate gift for invention, George designed a mobile classroom to bring education to farmers. He called it a “Jesup wagon” after the New York financier Morris Ketchum Jesup, who funded his program.

From 1915 to 1923, George experimented with new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans, pecans, and other crops. This work brought him into the public eye and he became one of the most well-known African Americans of his time. Three presidents—Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt—met with George, and the Crown Prince of Sweden studied with him for three weeks.

George worked tirelessly to improve the working conditions of farmers and to benefit society through inventions in herbal medicines and natural pesticides. In addition to his work in agriculture and science, George remained an advocate for racial harmony. From 1923 to 1933, he toured white Southern colleges for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation.

George Washington Carver continued his groundbreaking work right up to his death. In 1943, at the age of 78, he had a bad fall down a flight of stairs. His death came while he was painting a Christmas card in bed, which said, “Peace on earth and goodwill to all men.”

George Washington Carver’s legacy of resilience, kindness and curiosity about the world lives on. His gravesite bears this inscription: “He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.