My Work Is That of Conservation

George Washington Carver (ca. 1864–1943) is at once one of the most familiar and misunderstood figures in American history. In My Work Is That of Conservation, Mark D. Hersey reveals the life and work of this fascinating man who is widely—and reductively—known as the African American scientist who developed a wide variety of uses for the peanut. Carver had a truly prolific career dedicated to studying the ways in which people ought to interact with the natural world, yet much of his work has been largely forgotten. Hersey rectifies this by tracing the evolution of Carver’s agricultural and environmental thought starting with his childhood in Missouri and Kansas and his education at the Iowa Agricultural College. Carver’s environmental vision came into focus when he moved to the Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama, where his sensibilities and training collided with the denuded agro systems, deep poverty, and institutional racism of the Black Belt. It was there that Carver realised his most profound agricultural thinking, as his efforts to improve the lot of the area’s poorest farmers forced him to adjust his conception of scientific agriculture. Hersey shows that in the hands of pioneers like Carver, Progressive Era agronomy was actually considerably “greener” than is often thought today. My Work Is That of Conservation uses Carver’s life story to explore aspects of southern environmental history and to place this important scientist within the early conservation movement.

Hersey shows that in the hands of pioneers like Carver, Progressive Era agronomy was actually considerably 'greener' than is often thought today. My Work Is That of Conservation uses Carver's life story to explore aspects of southern environmental history and to place this important scientist within the early conservation movement.--Bob Edmonds "McCormick Messenger", Hersey's book offers a fresh, insightful, and nuanced interpretation of George Washington Carver and fills a significant gap in the growing literature on African American environmental history. The prose is clear and engaging, and it reads extremely well. This is a really good book.--Kimberly K. Smith "author of African American Environmental Thought: Foundations", Mark D. Hersey's book is gracefully written, exhaustively researched, insightful, and compelling. . . . His work reminds scholars of the importance of the land to understanding the southern past, something pioneers of the field appreciated but their successors forgot. Southern historians and others should put Hersey's book at the top of their reading list.--Jack E. Davis "American Historical Review", There are several biographies of George Washington Carver in print, but this book, although highly specialized and detailed, would also serve for those who haven't read one.--Don Noble "First Draft", This is a spectacular book, deeply researched and gracefully written, which will enrich our understanding of the environmental history of the South and restore George Washington Carver to his rightful place in the history of environmental thought.--Mart A. Stewart "author of "What Nature Suffers to Groe" Life, Labor, and Landscape on the Georgia Coast, 1680-1920"

MARK D. HERSEY is an assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University.