Description George Washington Carver was born into slavery in Missouri. He became a chemist, botanist, agricultural scientist, and inventor. As a botanist, Carver promoted the use of alternate crops to cotton that did not deplete the soil, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. As an inventor, he found many different uses for peanuts, including dyes, ropes, flour, and skin lotion. He did not however invent peanut butter. Even though Carver spent years developing products made from peanuts, none became commercially successful. He wanted poor families to grow crops such as sweet potatoes and peanuts as a means to improve their quality of life and provide an alternate source of income to cotton and tobacco. Peanuts Peanuts, along with beans and peas are legumes, edible seeds enclosed in pods. They provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom. In 1884, Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Canada, patented peanut paste, the product of milling roasted peanuts between two heated surfaces. In 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented a process of creating peanut butter from raw peanuts. This George Washington Carver history mug is part of our African American History series which includes many of the unique individuals who played an important part in molding America’s history. The biographical History Mugs were created to teach and inspire individuals to learn about our diverse and interesting history. The biographies were researched and written by history enthusiast, Robert Compton. He colorized most of the historic photos and images used on the mugs, which were originally black and white or sepia tone. The images and biographies are imprinted on mugs at his studio in rural Vermont. Mugs are food and microwave safe. To preserve photographic quality we recommend hand washing. Mugs are usually shipped within 3-5 days.
