{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://brooks.house.gov/media-center/news-releases/congressman-mo-brooks-recognizes-george-washington-carvers-legacy-ahead", "Congressman Mo Brooks Recognizes George Washington Carver's Legacy Ahead of Decatur Historic Marker Unveiling", "2019-12-10", "2019", "2019-12", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Mo Brooks", "B001274", "brooks.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC Tuesday, in a House Floor speech, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) recognized George Washington Carver's heroic, lasting legacy of scientific advancement and personal achievement made in the face of countless racist hurdles he had to overcome. The speech is a precursor to the George Washington Carver historic marker unveiling at the site of Carver School in Decatur, Alabama on January 5, 2020.\nClick on the above image or HERE for video of Congressman Brooks' speech\nFull text of Congressman Brooks' floor speech follows:\nMr. Speaker, renowned Alabama educator, artist, and botanist George Washington Carver, like many Americans, overcame numerous obstacles to achieve greatness.\nCarver's contributions to science and agriculture made a huge impact that is still felt across the globe today.\nOn January 5th of 2020, Alabama will unveil a historic marker honoring Dr. Carver at Decatur's Horizon School.\nCarver visited Decatur in 1935. Carver Elementary was named in his honor.[1]\nDuring his visit, Carver spoke to an audience of more than 1,000 Decatur residents.[2]\nIn a letter to then Superintendent W.W. Henson after his visit, Carver Washington Carver wrote, The Carver School far exceeds my expectations. It is a most beautiful building and I hope that it will be able in every way to integrate itself into the up-building and the development of the splendid possibilities which lie all around you.  \nCarver was deeply devoted to education.\nDuring the Civil War, George Washington Carver was born in Diamond Grove, Missouri.Shamefully, he was not allowed to attend public schools near his home because he was an African-American.[3]\nBut that did not stop George Washington Carver.He was determined to get an education, so he enrolled at a school 10 miles away in Neosho, Missouri.[4]\nIn Neosho, Carver was befriended by Mariah Watkins, from whom rented a room.\nMariah Watkins advice to Carver was simple. You must learn all you can, then go back out into the world and give your learning back to the people.[5]\nCarver did just that.\nDisappointed in the quality of Neosho's school, Carver moved to Kansas and supported himself through a variety of occupations while he furthered his education as he could.\nAfter earning his high school diploma, he discovered opportunities for college for black men in Kansas were nonexistent.\nSo, George Washington Carver majored in art at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa as their only black student.[6]\nEncouraged by his Simpson professors to focus on botany, Carver transferred to Iowa State, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in science.[7]\nThereafter, in April 1896, Booker T. Washington, recruited Carver to Tuskegee Institute's agriculture school in Alabama, where Carver taught and mentored generations of students for the next 47 years.[8]\nAt Tuskegee, Carver developed revolutionary techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton.\nTogether with other agricultural experts, he urged farmers to restore nitrogen to their soils by practicing systematic crop rotation, alternating cotton crops with plantings of sweet potatoes or legumes (such as peanuts, soybeans and cowpeas).[9]\nWhile at Tuskegee, Carver trained farmers to successfully rotate and cultivate the new crops.\nCarver developed and established an agricultural extension program for all of Alabama.[10]\nCarver founded an industrial research laboratory, where he and assistants worked to popularize the new crops by developing hundreds of applications for them.[11]\nIn 1916, Carver was made a member of the Royal Society of Arts in England, one of only a handful of Americans at that time to receive this honor.[12]\nThe United Peanut Associations of America invited Carver to speak at their 1920 convention. He discussed \"The Possibilities of the Peanut\" and exhibited 145 peanut products.[13]\nCarver received the 1923 NAACP Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African American.[14]\nBefore his death in 1943, Carver donated his life savings to establish the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee.[15]\nCarver was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.[16]\nThe George Washington Carver National Monument was the first national monument dedicated to a black American and the first to a non-president.[17]\nGeorge Washington Carver left a lasting legacy on Alabama schools, and Alabama is proud to have been the home of this renowned scientific leader.\nMr. Speaker, I yield back.\n###\n\n[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/alabama/articles/2019-09-29/historians-seek-marker-at-former-carver-school\n[2] Id.\n[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver\n[4] Id.\n[5] Abrams, Dennis (2008).George Washington Carver: Scientist and Educator. Chelsea House Publications. p.16.ISBN978-0791097175.\n[6] https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/george-washington-carver\n[7] Id.\n[8] Id.\n[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver\n[10] Id.\n[11] Id.\n[12] Id.\n[13] Id.\n[14] https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/george-washington-carver\n[15] https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Washington-Carver\n[16] https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/george-washington-carver\n[17] Id.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://brooks.house.gov/media-center/news-releases/congressman-mo-brooks-recognizes-george-washington-carvers-legacy-ahead"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9168080762028694, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}