George Washington Carver Day Programs to be presented in Tuskegee and Auburn

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site invites the public to attend Carver Day programs on Saturday, January 7, 2012. The National Park Service is partnering with Tuskegee University, Auburn University and Eastern National to discuss this renowned scientist, teacher, and humanitarian.

At 10:00 a.m. a panel discussion will explore the life of Dr. George Washington Carver in Tuskegee at the George Washington Carver Museum and again at 3:00 p.m. in the Special Collections and Archives Department of Auburn University’s Ralph Brown Draughon Library. His life will be explored through a panel discussion with guest speakers Dr. Mark Hersey, Dr. Gary Kremer and Dana Chandler. 

Dr. Mark Hersey is an assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University and author of My Work is that of Conservation:  An Environmental Biography of George Washington Carver. Dr. Gary Kremer is executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri, an adjunct professor of history at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and author of George Washington Carver: A Biography.  Dana Chandler is the archivist and adjunct professor of history at Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama.  A book signing will follow the presentation.

In addition to the Tuskegee panel discussion, the following activities will be held at the Carver Museum:

•       At 1:00 p.m., a children’s art workshop on Dr. Carver will be conducted at the Museum Participants will each create a Carver collage which will be on display at the museum throughout the month of January.

•       Refreshments, featuring peanuts and sweet potatoes, will be served after the panel and the workshop reflecting the influence of Carver’s agricultural and nutritional work.  Seldom seen Carver artifacts from the Tuskegee University Archives, including the Carver meteorite, will also be on display at the museum. 

All programs are free and open to the public.  Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the programs, please contact Park Ranger Shirley Baxter at 334-727-3200 or shirley_k_baxter@nps.gov.