George Washington Carver Overcomes Challenges to Achieve Acclaim

Despite challenges and conflict with faculty at Tuskegee, including with Booker T. Washington, as George Washington Carver’s tenure at the university approached two decades, he was well-known and respected throughout the South and among agriculturalists in other areas of the country. He was elected to the board of the National Agricultural Society and became the first Black man to be elected a fellow in Britain’s Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

This segment from Iowa PBS’s George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Life documentary includes interviews from people who knew or were influenced by him. Interviews took place at Iowa State University, Simpson College and Tuskegee University.