Standard to recognize influential African Americans in February

By Lisa Hobbs

For over 100 years, children have enjoyed eating peanut butter sandwiches. Do you know what African American came up with 300 uses for peanuts, including what is now known as peanut butter?

Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver was born in 1864 near Diamond Grove, Mo. He started popularizing uses for peanut products, including peanut butter, paper, ink and oils beginning in 1880.

Not only did he discover 300 uses for peanuts, he made peanuts a significant crop in the American South in the early 1900s. He discovered hundreds more uses for soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes.

With February designated as Black History Month, the Standard will take the time to highlight African Americans who have made an impact on this country and this community.

These fine individuals may not have had the far-reaching impact of George Washington Carver, but they have made important contributions nonetheless.

In 1943, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt honored Carver with a national monument dedicated to his accomplishments. An area of Carver’s childhood near Diamond Grove was preserved as a park, which was the first designated national monument to an African American in the United States.

If you know of a person in this community worthy of recognition during Black History Month, call the Standard newsroom at 473-2191.