Immediately after George Washington Carver’s death in 1943, the United States Congress recognized the importance of keeping his memory alive by establishing Carver’s birthplace as a national monument.

George Washington Carver first made an impression on Congress when he appeared before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee in 1921 to win a tariff bill that would help the South’s peanut farmers. Years later Congress recognized a man who had risen out of enslavement through an era of torturous segregation and discrimination to become an extraordinary contributor to the nation’s scientific, economic, and social well-being. It decided that Carver’s birthplace would serve as a fitting setting to interpret his inspiring story. National leaders also hoped that such an honor for an African American would strengthen national unity during wartime and promote interracial goodwill. Carver is commemorated here through an agricultural landscape and the natural beauty that inspired him many accomplishments.