George Washington Carver was a well-known botanist, educator, and agronomist whose life was coming to an end on July 19, 1942, when he collaborated with his friend, the famous industrialist Henry Ford. Carver is best known for his research on the peanut plant, and Ford is best remembered for creating assembly lines that make mass production of automobiles possible. It may seem like a strange and unlikely friendship, but it has had two leaders in their respective fields work together on a joint project.
Who is George Washington Carver?
George Washington Carver was born around 1864 at Moses Carver Farm in Missouri. His parents were carver's slaves, but after they were kidnapped and sold several states, Carver adopted George and his brother James. Moses Carver's wife, Susan, proved to be a competent governess, and George grew up to be a curious student, but he struggled to get a good education as a black boy in post-Civil War America. At first, he was denied admission to a university in Kansas, becoming the first black student at Iowa State College of Agriculture. Since then, he helped establish the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and dedicated his life to promoting the southern peanut industry.
Who is Henry Ford?
As an industrialist and business magnate, Henry Ford dabbled in many fields, but he is best known as the founder of Ford Motor Company. Through an innovative assembly line process, Ford made cars affordable for the American middle class. He was also an early environmentalist, determined to use as much of the factory's waste as possible, forming businesses like Kingsford Charcoal in the process.
Both Carver and Ford are interested in preventing and repairing soil infernality. Some common crops, such as corn and wheat, draw too much nutrients from the soil, hindering the growth of subsequent crops. Carver tried to educate farmers to rotate crops and grow alternative crops, such as peanuts, to replenish nutrients in the soil.
pen pal
Ford closely followed the work done by George Washington Carver, who was excited to discover that different crops had soil regenerative properties. Carver has also experimented with different types of peanut products, another area of interest to Ford, where he hopes products such as paints, fuels and plastics could be extracted from plants like peanuts and soybeans in the future. He contacted Carver in 1934, and the two inventors forged an unlikely friendship through the postal service and maintained correspondence for several years. Ford even donated money to the Tuskegee Institute.
Meet in person
They met for the first time in 1937 when Both Carver and Ford were in their early 70s. At Ford's invitation, Carver traveled to Michigan to visit Ford's plant and discuss their common interests. Carver and Ford were there, just like in their written letters. Ford even asked Carver to evaluate his crops at his Ford Plantation in Georgia to provide recommendations for maximizing yields while maintaining environmental standards.
Recruitment efforts
After the initial meeting, Ford traveled several times to Alabama to try to recruit Carver to work for his headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. After the outbreak of World War II, the United States experienced a shortage of wartime rubber, and Ford wanted Carver to help him create a plant-based alternative to elastic material. Carver eventually agreed to work with Ford, in part because he wanted to help in the war.
Joint trials
George Washington Carver arrived in Dearborn on July 19, 1942, to conduct a series of experiments with Henry Ford. The two friends set up a work area and laboratory in a building in downtown Dearborn that once had a waterworks plant where they tested many factories in hopes of producing a rubber alternative. They tried everything from soybeans to sweet potatoes to dandelions, but eventually they found a common weed called yellow flower.
Short-lived partnerships
Sadly, Carver's collaboration with Ford was short-lived. Less than a year later, on January 5, 1943, Carver died after falling down stairs at his home in Alabama. He was buried in the graveyard of the Tuskegee Institute. A few years later, in April 1947, Ford also died. If given more time, we never know what kind of innovation their partners might bring to the world.