Contact: Maridith Geuder
The life of pioneer educator and agricultural researcher George Washington Carver will be highlighted Wednesday [Sept. 3] in a public performance at Mississippi State.
"Listening to the Still Small Voice," a one-person play written and performed by Paxton J. Williams, begins at 5 p.m. in the university's McComas Hall theater. A reception will follow the 75-minute program.
Williams, a Bay St. Louis native, holds a bachelor's degree in political science and communication from Iowa State University, where Carver was the first African-American student. He wrote the script after completing extensive research at the ISU archives and the Carver National Monument in Diamond, Mo., Carver's hometown.
First performed as a capstone honors project at ISU, "Listening" has since been featured at a variety of local, state and national venues.
Since writing the play, Williams has earned a master's degree in public policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. This fall, he will study in England as a Rotary Foundation Scholar at the University of Birmingham.
The MSU performance is sponsored by a variety of campus groups, including the Bagley College of Engineering, Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, University Honors Program, and Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine.
Student sponsors include the Bulldog Toastmasters Club; Increasing Minority Access into Graduate Education; Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences; the National Society of Black Engineers; and the Office of Student Life.
Born into slavery in 1864, Carver in 1891 became the first black to enroll in then-Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Following the completion of his degree in 1894, he became that institution's first black faculty member before being invited in 1896 to join the faculty of Alabama's Tuskegee Institute.
During his Tuskegee tenure, Carver earned the sobriquet the 'Wizard of Tuskegee" for his research and teaching accomplishments. He is recognized internationally for research that resulted in the creation of more than 300 products from peanuts and more than 100 products from sweet potatoes. Both ultimately resulted in crop alternatives that provided an economic boost for the economically depressed South.
Drawing on his Iowa State experience, Carver also developed "movable schools" to bring practical agricultural knowledge directly to farmers. He is recognized for inventions that range from axle grease and linoleum to printer's ink and a castor oil substitute.
During his lifetime, he was recognized with the establishment of the Carver Museum at Tuskegee in 1941. A year later, he received the Roosevelt Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Southern Agriculture.
Since his death in 1943, Carver also has been honored with two commemorative postage stamps, a U.S. coin and election to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, among other honors.
For more information about the Wednesday program, contact Tommy Stevenson at (662) 325-8449 or tommy@engr.msstate.edu.