(Missouri Public Service) NEOSHO, Mo. – Born a slave and then orphaned, George Washington Carver was among the unlikeliest of people to grow into a world-famous scholar, inventor and botanist. But that’s exactly what Carver became, and it began as a 10-year-old attending what was then called The Neosho Colored School in southwest Missouri.

An array of dignitaries paid tribute to Carver’s legacy Thursday as they present the 2017 George Washington Carver Distinguished Service and Innovation Award at an event in at an event in Des Moines, Iowa. Monies raised from the dinner will help restore the Neosho schoolhouse where Carver got his start.

The Neosho schoolhouse is being restored to serve as a historic monument to Carver and every African-American who sought education there in the decades following the Civil War.