nPostednon July 19, 2014
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| History can be a jumble in my head. With an awful lot about various battles and wars! |
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nInlearned much of history in little cubicles. U.S. History here, WorldnHistory there. History of transportation and communication inventionsnover here, history of battles and wars over there.
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nTonsome extent, the disjointed facts I have crammed into my head have nonway of informing me about who-knew-who, who-influenced-who,nwho-taught-who.
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nOnenthing I had never heard of before was that two giants in slightlyndifferent fields worked together on an experiment. The two giantsnwere agricultural inventor and botanist George Washington Carver, andnautomobile manufacturer and industrial innovator Henry Ford.
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nItnalmost makes sense that two great American inventors and innovators,nliving at the same time, might meet one another—but it had nevernoccurred to me that they would.
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Carvernwas born a slave during the Civil War, he worked as a farm hand andnmanaged to get a college education after moving out of the South, tonIowa. But he moved back to the South in order to head the departmentnof agriculture at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Fordnof course set up his Motor Company near Detroit, Michigan. n
Carvernwas born a slave during the Civil War, he worked as a farm hand andnmanaged to get a college education after moving out of the South, tonIowa. But he moved back to the South in order to head the departmentnof agriculture at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Fordnof course set up his Motor Company near Detroit, Michigan. nn
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nThentwo wrote letters back and forth, and in 1937 Carver visitednMichigan. Ford donated money to support Carver’s work at the TuskegeenInstitute, and Carver helped oversee crops at the Ford plantation innGeorgia. By the beginning of World War II, Ford had made severalntrips to Alabama to try to convince Carver to come help him develop ansynthetic rubber because the war had caused shortages. Carver finallynarrived in Dearborn, MI, on this date in 1942, and set up anlaboratory.
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Carvernand Ford experimented with crops such as sweet potatoes andndandelions. Finally they devised a way to make rubber usingngoldenrod. n
Carvernand Ford experimented with crops such as sweet potatoes andndandelions. Finally they devised a way to make rubber usingngoldenrod. nn
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nIncouldn’t find out how long the two worked together, but I did hearnthat when Carver returned home to Tuskegee, Ford paid to have annelevator installed in dormitory where Carver lived, so that henwouldn’t have to climb up and down stairs. Carver was 79 years old atnthat time, and he died just six months after working with Ford.
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nBynthe way, although Ford died just four years after Carver, thenrelationship between Ford Motor Company and the Tuskegee Institutencontinued. I found out, for example, that a library at the universitynis named the Ford Motor Company Library / Learning Resource Center,nbecause the company had donated $4.5 million for the renovation ofnthe old library, with the completion of the renovations in 2001.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Nanfan (?)
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nAnniversarynof the Metro (subway) in Paris
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nArtsnand Artists Day
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nAnniversarynof the first parking meters
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nJulyn holidays
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nJulyn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in July
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nAugustn holidays
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nAugustn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in August
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