Also, too:6 Black Conservationists and Environmental Activists to Celebrate
Black men and women have been advancing conservation for centuries. Here are just a few of their stories.
One of the most impactful conservationists in the United States’ history, George Washington Carver healed land and uplifted farmers recently freed from slavery.
Born into slavery himself, Carver overcame race-based rejections from multiple colleges and became the first Black student at Iowa State University and later its first Black faculty member.
He helped found the agricultural school at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. Upon arriving in the South, Carver noted how degraded the soil was from a long history of intensive cotton growing.
Carver experimented and perfected ways to bring nutrients back to the land: an idea that in modern times is embraced as regenerative agriculture, a powerful climate solution.
Carver’s methods of rotating a variety of crops and turning some cover crops under the soil boosted the land’s productivity. To create a market for diverse soil-fixing crops like peanuts and sweet potatoes, Carver invented hundreds of uses for them.
Due to his contributions to the nation’s agriculture, Carver was the first non-president to be honored with a national monument.
Hattie Carthan
Rue Mapp
Hazel Johnson
Dr. Robert Bullard
Colonel Charles Young
The George Washington Carver National Park in Missouri is a must see.
