In Search of George Washington Carver’s True Legacy

The famed agriculturalist deserves to be known for much more than peanuts

Photo: Botanist George Washington Carver, seen here in a 1940 photo, donated $33,000 in cash to the Tuskegee Institute to establish a fund to carry on the agricultural and chemical work he began. (Bettmann)

(Smithsonian) If the name George Washington Carver conjures up any spark of recognition, it’s probably associated with peanuts. That isn’t an unfair connection—he did earn the nickname “the peanut man” for his work with the legume—but it’s one that doesn’t give credit to the rest of Carver’s pioneering, fascinating work.

“People, when they think of Carver, they think of his science—or they think he invented peanuts,” says Curtis Gregory, a park ranger at the George Washington Carver National Monument at Carver’s birthplace in Diamond, Missouri. “There’s so much more to the man.”

Mark Hersey, a history professor at Mississippi State University and author of an environmental biography of Carver, says that “[Carver] became famous for things he probably shouldn’t have been famous for, and that fame obscured the reasons we should remember him.” In Hersey’s view, the contributions Carver made to the environmental movement, including his ahead-of-the-times ideas about self-sufficiency and sustainability, are far more important than the “cook-stove chemistry” he engaged in.

Nonetheless, Carver became ludicrously famous for his peanut work—possibly the most famous black man in America for a while. ­Upon his death in 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt remarked on his passing: “The world of science has lost one of its most eminent figures,” he said. (more)


9 Black Inventors Who Made Daily Life Easier

Black innovators changed the way we live through their contributions, from caller ID to the traffic light to the ironing board.

black inventors

(Left to right) Lewis Latimer, Shirley Ann Jackson, Garrett Morgan.

(History) Most people have heard about famous inventions like the light bulb, the cotton gin and the iPhone. But there are countless other, often overlooked inventions that make our daily lives easier. Among the creative innovators behind these devices, are African-Americans. From the traffic light to caller ID to the ironing board, see a list of products that have sprung from the minds of black inventors.

Improved Ironing Board, Invented by Sarah Boone in 1892

The ironing board is a product that’s used possibly just as much as it’s overlooked. In the late 19th century, it was improved upon by Sarah Boone, an African-American woman who was born a slave. One of the first black women in U.S. history to receive a patent, she expanded upon the original ironing board, which was essentially a horizontal wooden block originally patented in 1858. With Boone’s 1892 additions, the board featured a narrower and curved design, making it easier to iron garments, particularly women’s clothing. Boone’s design would morph into the modern ironing board that we use today. (more)


UTRGV researchers uncovering South Texas’s part in the Underground Railroad

Underground railroad south texas

Eli Jackson Cemetery Methodist Church in San Juan, Texas. (UTRGV Photo: David Pike)

(Valley Town Crier) Lessons about the Underground Railroad often focus on escaped slaves heading north to free states and Canada.

But many people don’t know they also headed south – to the Rio Grande Valley.

Researchers at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley are working to uncover South Texas’s part in the Underground Railroad. And this area was, after all, the last stop before Mexico, which abolished slavery decades before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in the United States.

ROUTE FOR COTTON, AND FREEDOM

Roseann Bacha-Garza, program manager for UTRGV’s Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools (CHAPS) and a history lecturer at UTRGV, said slaves in Texas actually were quite familiar with the southern path to freedom.

“Those who were already in Texas and serving on plantations in East Texas already had knowledge of pathways of how to get down to the border, as they were shepherding the plantation owners’ cotton to the ports down here,” she said. (more)


TIPHC Bookshelf

Big BubbaPublished scholarship on black history in Texas is growing and we’d like to share with you some suggested readings, both current and past, from some of the preeminent history scholars in Texas and beyond. We invite you to take a look at our bookshelf page – including a featured selection – and check back as the list grows. A different selection will be featured each week. We welcome suggestions and reviews. This week, we offer, “Big Bubba, The Life of Charles “Bubba” Smith,” by Rita Garrison.

“Everything’s Bigger in Texas!” That saying held true when Charles “Bubba”Smith was born in a little town outside Beaumont and grew to be 6’8”, 300 pounds with the physique of a gladiator. Big Bubba contains the colorful, candid memoirs of Bubba Smith’s life, the life of a man who reached super-stardom as an NFL legend and then went on to enjoy a prolific career in commercials, TV, and movies — most notably as the endearing giant of a police cadet, Moses Hightower, in the successful Police Academy movies. From humble beginnings, he grew up under the strict guidance of his football coach father and his loving mother, a woman who went from chopping cotton to earning a doctorate. Big Bubba runs the gamut of emotions from jaw-dropping shock to laugh-out-loud humor and heart-warming stories involving family, friends, and other players and actors. These memoirs, told in his later years, reveal stories and details Bubba had never before revealed, since he said he wanted to “Put it all out on Front Street,” one of Bubba’s favorite expressions. You might be shocked, you may laugh or cry, but you will certainly be entertained by these memories of a man who lived his life on a level above most of us.


This Week in Texas Black History

Feb. 24

David NewmanOn this day in 1933, jazz saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman was born in Corsicana. Newman grew up in Dallas, graduating from Lincoln High School, then studying theology and music at Jarvis Christian College. For 12 years, beginning in 1954, he was a member of the Ray Charles Band and became the group’s lead tenor soloist. He also played with Herbie MannAretha FranklinHank CrawfordAaron Neville, and Austin’s Kenny Dorham. In 2005, Newman’s album, “I Remember Brother Ray,” was the most played jazz album in the nation.

Feb. 26

Heman SweattHeman Sweatt, accompanied by a delegation from the NAACP, met with University of Texas president Theophilus S. Painter and other university officials on this day in 1946 to present a formal request for Sweatt’s admission to the UT law school. The legal case resulting from this request, Sweatt v. Painter, became a landmark civil rights decision, one of several that struck down the doctrine of “separate but equal” educational facilities. Sweatt finally registered at the school on September 19, 1950.

Feb. 27

Hilton SmithNegro Leagues pitcher Hilton Smith was born on this day in 1907 in Giddings. He played baseball at Prairie View A&M College and then, in 1931 with the Austin Black Senators and in 1932 the Monroe (La.) Monarchs. In 1937, he joined the Kansas City Monarchs, of the newly formed Negro American League and played there until 1948. With Kansas City, he frequently came on in relief of the great Satchel Paige. Smith was named to six consecutive East-West All-star Games (’37-42) and won 20 or more games in each of his 12 seasons with Kansas City, including a 93-11 record over a four-year span (’39-42). He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. Buck O’Neil, his teammate and close friend said of him, “From 1940 to 1946, Hilton Smith might have been the greatest pitcher in the world.”

Feb. 28

Bubba SmithOn this date in 1945, All-Pro defensive end Charles “Bubba” Smith was born in Orange. Smith played for his father, Willie Ray Smith, at Beaumont Charlton-Pollard HS and attended Michigan State University where he was a two-time All-American defensive end. Smith was the first pick of the 1967 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts, and was a member of their Super Bowl V winning team. During his nine-year career, he also played with the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Oilers. After football, Smith became an actor, most noted for his roles in six “Police Academy” films. In 1988, he was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame.


Blog: Ron Goodwin, Ph.D., author, PVAMU history professor

Ron Goodwin is an assistant professor of history at Prairie View A&M University. Even though he was a military “brat,” he still considers San Antonio home. Like his father and brother, Ron joined the U.S. Air Force and while enlisted received his undergraduate degree from Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas. After his honorable discharge, he completed graduate degrees from Texas Southern University. Goodwin’s book, Blacks in Houston, is a pictorial history of Houston’s black community. His most recent book, Remembering the Days of Sorrow, examines the institution of slavery in Texas from the perspective of the New Deal’s Slave Narratives.

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The Everlasting Light

February 27th, 2019

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. — Matthew 5: 14-16

This is the month set aside to honor…(more)

The Return of the Silent Majority

February 5th, 2019

Fifty years ago, in January 1969, Richard Nixon was sworn in as the thirty-seventh president of the United States. His legacy as President was marred by the Watergate investigations and his eventual resignation from office which overshadowed the way in which he won the office. His central campaign rhetoric was designed to garner support from white Southerners (otherwise known in history as the “Silent Majority”) whose racial beliefs leaned heavily towards the support of white…(more)


Submissions wanted

Historians, scholars, students, lend us your…writings. Help us produce the most comprehensive documentation ever undertaken for the African American experience in Texas. We encourage you to contribute items about people, places, events, issues, politics/legislation, sports, entertainment, religion, etc., as general entries or essays. Our documentation is wide-ranging and diverse, and you may research and write about the subject of your interest or, to start, please consult our list of suggested biographical entries and see submission guidelines. However, all topics must be approved by TIPHC editors before beginning your research/writing.

We welcome your questions or comments. Please contact Michael Hurd, Director of TIPHC, at mdhurd@pvamu.edu.