Biography

Do you like peanut butter? How about just pain ole’ peanuts? Well if it weren’t for George Washington Carver there would be no peanut butter in this world. For lunch you would most likely be eating a plain jelly sandwich. George Washington Carver was born sometime during the civil war. Based on the article "Carver, George Washington (1864-1943)." IHistorians believe he was born in 1864 but they aren’t for sure. The birth place of George Washington was in our state of Missouri in Diamond Grove. He was born a slave but he would have a chance to escape but not by choice. When he was still an infant him and his mother were kidnapped yes kidnapped by bandits and taken down into Arkansas. He spent a little time down there only until his master’s neighbor had saved him. George’s mother was never seen again after the kidnapping. Now you’re saying well why didn’t his father go and save him from the bandits? Well his father died in a log rolling accident a few months after he was born. Now with both of his parents gone he had to have someone raise him. The persons that stepped up and took on the duty to raise this young boy was Moses and Susan Carver. So before he was born his name was George Washington. Moses and Susan also raised his brother Jim Washington. As a young boy George Washington fell sick with whooping couch which temporarily stunted his growth. Also this sickness injured his vocal cords because he was coughing so much. In turn he was left with a fairly high pitched voice the rest of his life. When he was growing up plants fascinated him. He would go into the back yard and observe the changes in plant behavior in different weather conditions and during different times of the year. So in 1877 he left his home with nothing more than the clothes on his back and the money in his pocket to study in a school for all blacks in a near by town of Neosho because he was not allowed to attend public school just for the simple fact of the color of his skin. In this town while he was trying to earn his education he worked different jobs including cook, launder, and grocery clerk. While working at the launders in 1879, he witnessed a brutal mob action that scared him for life. He stated more than 60 years later, “As young as I was and the horror haunted me and does now.” Because of this brutal act he moved to Olatha Kansas where he continued to work odd jobs while trying to obtain his education. In Olatha he received a bank loan and opened a laundry business to earn some money for school. George finally completed his education along side the white man. In 1884 he moved into Kansas City, Missouri and was accepted to Presbyterian collage in Highland, Kansas by mail. But when he arrived on campus he was denied entry because he was African American. Even though he was humiliated he stayed in Highland to work for a white family (The Beelers) who was very supportive of him. He moved into western Kansas with the Beelers and he finally got enrolled in college (Simpson College) in 1890. He was the only black person on the entire campus. He studied art and his art teacher was amazed by his interest in plants and encouraged him to transfer into Iowa State College of Agriculture in Ames. This is one of the country’s most prestige school for farming research. He graduated in 1894 at the top of his class. He received his masters degree in science in 1896. He was in very high demand for his work. Booker T. Washington who was the most respected black educator in the country asked George Washington Carver to create an agricultural school that would experiment with plants and other recourses to help find cures for things. He accepted. In 1896 the peanut was not even considered a crop. But a few years on down the road Carver would change that. He would start experimenting with the Spanish peanut. He would eventually find more than 300 uses for peanut. But for all of his discoveries he only would make 3 patients and his patients 2 were for paint products and one was for cosmetics. None of these were commercially successful. The country began to recognize him a lot after the death of Booker T. Washington in 1915. He became Tuskegee’s official speaker. He received numerous awards for his findings. George left his entire life savings (about $60,000) to find the George Washington Carver foundation to provide opportunities for the advancement in black botany, chemistry, and agronomy. George Washington Carver sadly died in 1943. He is named the most famous African American of his Era.

George Washington Carver. 2009. Photograph.