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Birth
George Washington Carver was born in January of 1864 in Diamon, Missouri in Newton County to two slaves, Mary ( the last name is unknown) and a slave from a neighboring plantation who died before George was born. -
Kidnapped and Separated
Sometime in 1865, George and his mother were captured by the Klu Klux Klan who were resentful because of the recent abolition of slavery. Fortunately, George was recovered by a neighbor and was retuned to his masters, Moses and Susan Carver, along with his older brother Jim. -
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Primary Schooling
During this time, George was being taught by his adopted parents, Susan and Moses Carver. "Aunt Susan" as she was called, taught the boys reading and writing because blacks were still not accepted in the public schools of the South. -
Formal Education Begins
After years of being homeschooled for years, George left the house at the age of thirteen to find a school that would accept African Americans. He found this school in Fort Scott, Kansas, where he witnessed white men beating a single black man. He soon left for Minneapolis High School, where he got his diploma. -
Accepted, then Rejected
After sending countless letters to various colleges in the state, Mr. Carver eventually got accepted into Penn University, until he got there and school officials realized that he was black. Nevertheless, he stayed fairly close to the college and moved to Beeler, Kansas. There he operated a 17 acre farm he operated without the help of draft animals. -
Simpson Art School
George Washington Carver was accepted to Simpson Art College in 1890, where he was famous for his realsitic and scientific drawings of flowers and other plants. One art teacher recognized this and prompted him to enroll in the State Agricultural College. -
Iowa Agricultural College
From 1891-94, George atttended Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University). He was the first black student to ever attend the school. This was the first time he used his full name to distinguish himself from another George Carver in his class. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in agriculture. Once he graduated, he became part of the faculty and was responsible for the upkeeping of the greenhouse. -
Trouble at Tuskeegee
By now, Mr. Carver was known in many social circles and he was invited to become the head of the Agricultural Department at Tuskeegee University, which he accepted. Coworkers soon resented him for his lavish accomodations that the college had offered him and his dislike of physical labor. -
Resignation
Washington wrote a letter of resignation to Tuskeegee University after years of threatening to do so. He quit because of the poor quality of the research laboratory they were allowing him to use. -
Innovations with Peanuts
After his extensive work with peanuts and their many uses, George Washington Carver was invited to speak in front of the big producers of peanuts at the time and showed them over 100 of his peanut products. This included peanut milk, peanut medicine, and even the most popular peanut product today, peanut butter. While the industry had reservations about his skin color, the convention was a great success. -
Recognition by the President
Until now, the general public was not very much aware of Carver and his work. When Theodore Roosevelt publicly admired George Washington Carver's work, he became a household name and was boosted into scientist stardom. -
Peanut Oil Massages
After winning a myriad of different awards throughout his career, George tried to reliven it by claiming peanut oil massages were a cure for polio. Many parents turned to him to help their paralyzed children, but were dissapointed when he realized that it was not the miracle cure that he had thought it to be earlier. -
George Meets Henry
This was when George Washington Carver met the famed Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. There, they worked on plastics made out of soybeans to be used inside cars. It was rumored that they even built a full automobile just out of these plastics. Along with plastics, they developed a synthetic rubber made out of soybeans. -
George Washington Carver Foundation
Now approaching the end of his life, George Washington Carver donated $60,000 and willed his entire estate to the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskeegee University. He donated his land so the foundation would continue after his death. -
Death
At the age of 78, George Washington Carver died after taking a bad fall down a long flight of stairs. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington, a close friend and coworker, on the grounds of Tuskeegee University. Even in the middle of WWII, the US government dedicated a national monument to him. If nothing else, this shows the kind of impact that George Washington Carver had on his country.
