1943: George Washington Carver dies, leaving a legacy of a revived and diversified Southern agriculture and hundreds of new and improved food products. Think of him whenever you’re enjoying peanut butter.

Carver was born into slavery in Missouri sometime in the first half of the 1860s: The exact date is unknown. His father was killed in an accident before George was born. Slaveholder Moses Carver sent his slaves to Arkansas during the Civil War, and though George’s mother was never heard from again, the boy was returned to the Missouri plantation at the end of the war.

He was no longer a slave,...