WACO, Texas — The future of G.W. Carver Middle School in Waco will be molded in iron with the installation of artwork to represent the name and legacy of George Washington Carver.
The school was opened in 1956 for black students in Waco until public schools integrated in 1970.
Ruth Jackson and Charles Perkins are graduates of the school who went on to achieve great things because they pulled inspiration from the name, George Washington Carver. Today, they're part of a historical committee helping to install artwork and memorabilia in the new school, after it burned down in 2021, so Carver's legacy will live on.
"It was a promising thing to be part of Carver and to establish roots here that we knew would carry us through the rest of our lives," Jackson said.
Brief history of George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was born into slavery in 1846. Against all odds he grew up to be an agricultural scientist and inventor.
The trailblazer became an internationally-known scientist and produced over 400 new products from peanuts and sweet potatoes to soybeans.
Carver would take on the role and spend the rest of his life as the Director of Agriculture at the Agricultural Research and Experimental Station at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama.
The impact of Carver's legacy
The name G.W. Carver meant something to Jackson, Perkins and the rest of their classes.
"The 14 teachers we had at Carver high school and middle school were individuals to guide us and lead us," Perkins said.
Everyone embodied the idea of what Carver was meant to be.
When it opened was under the La Vega Public Schools and had seven objectives, which include the list below:
Now, graduates want this to live on at the new school by dedicating artwork in the entrance of the school to George Washington Carver's legacy.
"It’s so amazing the kids of today don’t understand what it really means to have someone be successful to understand what it means to be like you," Jackson said.
Waco ISD, Jackson and Perkins found Skip Ralls to build a large bust and memorabilia out of iron to represent Carver.
Today Ralls said he is only a few months from completing the artwork that embodies the man who inspired generations.
"Education is endless," Ralls said,
Ralls is using vines to represent this, planting peanut flowers and roses along the way to represent Carver, how he always wore a rose and worked with peanuts.
For more on the history of G.W. Carver and what it will take to send it into the future, watch 6 News at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Thursday for a special Black History Month report.