[Tell It Right]

Henry Ford was impressed with Carver too. After WW1, Ford and Edison was unhappy with the fact that the U.S. had to import a lot of rubber from Cuba for the war effort. So they put their resources together (I believe it was $25K each per year) to build a lab for Edison to tinker in on the land at their combined winter homes in Florida (near Tampa) the two families vacationed in during the winter. I heard that Harvey Firestone contributed to it as well.

Eventually Edison figured out a plant that could grow in the south that could produce rubber: goldenrod. But he died before he could perfect the process. So Ford enlisted Carver to complete the work. Ford was very impressed with Carver and thought the country could use more people like him. Carver suggested donating to Tuskegee. To this day the Ford Motor Company annually donates huge amounts to Tuskegee.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

They also tried using the latex from the stems of Sweet Potatoes to fabricate Rubber, but he determined that it did not produce a good quality rubber.