George Washington Carver Legacy Innovation and Leadership Awards Symposium

As a botany and agriculture teacher, Dr. George Washington Carver wanted to improve the lot of “the man farthest down,” the poor, one-horse farmer at the mercy of the market and chained to land exhausted by cotton.

Unlike other agricultural researchers of his time, Dr. Carver saw the need to devise practical farming methods for this kind of farmer to boost self-sufficiency and conservation.

Dr. Carver achieved this through an innovative series of free, simply-written brochures that included information on crops, cultivation techniques and recipes for nutritious meals. He also urged the farmers to submit samples of their soil and water for analysis and taught them livestock care and food preservation techniques.

Today, his contributions are honored through the George Washington Carver Legacy Innovation and Leadership Awards Symposium. The annual awards program and symposium is a collaborative effort of the George Washington Carver Birthplace Association and its legacy institutions, which include Kansas State University, Iowa State University, Lincoln University, Simpson College and Tuskegee University.

2021 Symposium

The 2021 Dr. George Washington Carver Legacy Innovation and Leadership Awards Symposium took place virtually on November 18, 2021.

The Carver symposium featured a panel speaking on the theme, "Minority Land Loss and Restorative Justice." The panel included Robert Zabawa, PhD, Tuskegee University research professor of agricultural and resource economics, Cassandra Johnson, PhD, USDA Forest Service Southern research station research social scientist and Victor L. Harris, editor of Minority Landowner Magazine.

The event also recognized Sanders Barbee, junior in agricultural economics at Kansas State University, as a 2021 Dr. George Washington Carver Legacy and Innovation award recipient.