George Washington Carver (1860s-1943) was born in a town called Diamond, Missouri, but he became famous as a professor at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. It was there that he taught his students better ways to farm.

An important part of farming is figuring out which crops to plant each year. To make plants grow better, it helps to “rotate” crops by planting different ones every year or two. But, in the southern United States, people planted cotton year after year. Since they weren’t rotating their crops, they harvested less and less each year. So, George Washington Carver taught Southerner farmers to plant other crops, such as peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes. And it worked!

As a tribute to Professor Carver, there’s a monument and a park in Diamond, Missouri that celebrate the man who taught farmers how to improve their crops and their lives!

Don’t Give Up!

We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.
Helen Keller

Get a good idea and work at it until it’s done and done right.
Walt Disney

Be like a postage stamp: stick to one thing till you get there.
Josh Billings