"The Peanut Man" Premiering Friday

November 12, 2024 - The story of George Washington Carver, an inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, is inextricably linked with Alabama. As being one of the most prominent African-American scientists of the early 20th Century, he was invited by Booker T. Washington to be the head of the Agriculture Department of Tuskegee University in 1896. And George Washington Carver taught at Tuskegee University in Alabama for forty-seven years.

Known for his innovations in crop rotation and introducing several alternative cash crops for farmers besides the nutrient depleting cotton crop, the life story of George Washington Carver is the subject of the feature film being released on Friday, November 15th, 2024 by Fawesome, an online on demand streaming service that is free of charge. Entitled, "The Peanut Man", as George Washington Carver developed 325 different uses for peanuts from cooking oil to ink, the biopic focuses on Carver's perseverance in developing his passion for plants into a trailblazing career as an agricultural scientist. All during a time period when the doors to higher education and opportunity were closed to him because of his heritage.

As George Washington Carver was accepted into college, but then rejected when the college officials saw him in person, for George Washington Carver was African-American. Nevertheless, with the encouragement of the Milhollands, George Washington Carver applied to college again, this time at Simpson College, a Methodist college in Iowa, that opened its doors to all students and accepted him. While Carver initially enrolled in college studying music and art, when his teachers discovered that he had an interest in botany stemming from his childhood with the Carvers, they encouraged him to transfer to Iowa State University where he demonstrated a talent for identifying and treating plant diseases.

George Washington Carver was then able to apply his studies and help his adoptive childhood family, the Carvers, save their farm. And it is his interest in helping improve the lives of impoverished farmers that became his life's work. A work which was admired by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and highly respected worldwide.

In "The Peanut Man", George Washington Carver is portrayed by Glenn Plummer, a California Native, whose breakout role was Bobby Johnson in "South Central". "The Peanut Man" is both directed and produced by Aaron L. Williams who emphasized George Washington Carver's personal sacrifices and resilience against adversity from having to endure baseless racism to overcoming self-doubt in the film. As "The Peanut Man" shows the human cost of George Washington Carver's scientific genius. A scientist who sought answers from God at a time when southern agriculture was on the brink of collapse. And through his faith and knowledge discovered the secrets to saving the South via a simple peanut, redefining the future of farming in the process.

Indeed, Carver's life is an inspiring story for people from all walks of life in the present day, as one of the quotes from the movie states, "Your birth is not defined by where you come from, but by what you can achieve."

The full feature film., which runs at about an hour and half in length, can be streamed online on Friday from Fawesome at this link: Watch The Peanut Man Free | Full Movie Online | Fawesome.

Luisa Reyes is an attorney in Tuscaloosa with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Judson, a master's degree in library science, and a law degree from Samford's Cumberland School of Law. She is also a piano instructor and vocalist.