George Washington Carver

It all started on January 1 when George Washington Carver was born. He grew up on a small farm in Diamond Grove, Missouri. He also had a brother named Jim. He was born during the Civil War. His mother (Mary) and him were slaves. Knowing that he was born into slavery, he didn't know the exact year he was born. People say that he was born in 1864 or 1865. They later said that they would mark it as 1864. Their slave owners were a couple named Mose and Susan Carver. His mother and him were stolen by slave raiders. Mose Carver went looking for them but sadly he only found George and Jim. George and Jim then became orphans. Susan and Mose couldn't adopt them, because of the slavery. So they then, raised George and Jim as one of their own since they didn't have any kids.

George was interested in reading the Bible and also studying about plants and animals. At this point in time there were no schools around that let black children join. George soon traveled around the midwest to go to school. He found a school 10 miles south of where he was living. This school excepted black children at their school. He graduated from high school in Minneapolis, Kansas. George went to college in Iowa State to study to draw. We know that he is a scientist but before he wanted to be a artist. He would draw a lot of plants. Etta Budd, his teacher, saw his talent for art and said that painting was in him. She realized that as a black man he would not make as much money as an artist. She saw how successful he was with plants and thought he would be more successful to be a botanist. His teacher later told him that he should combine his love for science, plants, and art to become a botanist. He agreed and decided to enroll to study for botanist. He was also the first African- American student in Iowa State. He worked up to earn his masters degree.

After going to college and getting a masters degree in Iowa Stare George decided to begin teaching as a professor. He was also the first African- American professor at the college. Booker Washington contacted George to tell him that he opened an all- black college in Tuskegee, Alabama. Booker Washington was also been a slave, well until the age of ten. He wanted to see if George wanted to work at his college. George agreed and moved to Tuskegee. He then would teacher there for the rest of his life. He soon made the school the largest and richest school to be ran by African Americans. He made its so that only African Americans could work at that school.

Black people in the south saw how their rights disappeared without the federal protection. They first took away the rights for African American people to vote. Other states made people pay a certain tax. They also made them prove they could write and read. This only was for black voters and not white voters. Without enough power the African Americans could not stop the white people from getting back a type of slavery. With this they made it so black couldn't be with whites. For example they would have separate water fountains, they had to let the whites sit on the bus, and they had to go to different schools. There were also White Only signs made for this. If the black person wouldn't follow the rules they would be killed. Also if a white person killed a black person they would not go to jail.

In the south they would grow a lot of cotton every year. They noticed that the cotton was making the soil not as rich. George Washington Carver then decided to rotate the crops so the soil to stay rich. They would grow cotton with other crops such as sweet potatoes. He also taught this students this method so that they can also do it. Another thing that was wrong with the farming was the boll weevil. This is a insect that tend to eat the cotton. Carver found out that they hate peanuts. The farmers were worried that they wouldn't make enough money off of peanuts. This is where the Inventions started.

With the farmers planting peanuts, George Washington Carver decided to make things using the peanuts. He made many inventions such as dyes for clothing and cooking oil, plastics, fuel for cars, and peanut butter. He also invented things with soybeans and sweet potatoes. He made 300 inventions from peanuts and 118 from sweet potatoes. By doing this for the farmers they were able to rotate their crops and keep their soil healthy. For doing this he was known as the Farmer's Best Friend.

After making such great inventions. He later died four days after his birthday, January 5, 1943. He died from falling down his stairs at home. The congress later said that January 5th is now a day to honor. On this day they honor George Washington Carver for everything that he has done for our planet.

There are some cool or interesting facts about him. Since he was good with plants, people called him a plant doctor. Another thing they call him is the peanut man. Another thing that he believed is that peanuts can fight polio. Polio is a sickness that can make people's arms weak or paralyzed. He thought that his peanuts oil can prevent this from happening to people. This therrory was not true. The peanut oil does not help with the polio sickness. He tested it on people and found this out. Also a thing he did, or should I say didn't do, was to record data. He didn't seem the need to record his data. Lastly a funny thing he did was he called weeds natures vegetables. He thought that weeds could be a food source in America. He even said, there is no need for America to go hungry as long as nature provides weeds and wild vegetables Lastly he did not care about the money from his inventions. He rather cared about the people. He made these inventions so that the farmers could do the crop rotation and to make sure they got a profit from it, not for the money that he would make form it.

Cite this page