George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver

Paige Lambert

February 20, 2008

Mr. Suski

George Washington Carver was born in 1864 on July 12. They are not sure what month or date. He was born near Diamond Grove Missouri. He was born near the end of the civil war. When he was a baby, he was kidnapped, along with his mother, by Confederate night-raiders. His father, Moses, found and reclaimed him after the war. His mother was not with them and was never seen again.

When he was a child he was raised on a farm and grew very fond of nature. He even earned the nickname "The Plant Doctor". He collected all kinds of rocks and plants. When he was twelve he started school. He had to leave the home of his adopted parents. He attended college, which was a challenge because of the racial barriers. He was thirty years old when he was accepted to Simpson College in Iowa. He was the first black person to attend that college. He earned a degree in science in 1894 and a Master's degree in bacterial botany in 1897.

In 1897, Booker T. Washington talked Carver into coming to the south and serve as the school's Director of Agriculture. He stayed there on their faculty until he passed away in 1943. As the Director of Agriculture, he developed his crop rotation method, which improved southern agriculture, immensely. He taught farmers to alternate the dying cotton crops with other foods to farm, such as peanuts, peas, soybeans, sweet potatoes and pecans.

During World War I, he developed industrial applications from crops. He found a way to replace the textile dyes that were imported from Europe. He created and produced dyes of 500 different shades and it was his invention in 1927. He received three patents for his invention. He did not profit from his inventions.