George washington carver accomplishments

George Washington Carver

c. 1864-1943

Who Was George Washington Carver?

George Washington Carver was a Black scientist and inventor famous for his work with the peanut; he invented more than 300 products involving the crop, including dyes, plastics, and gasoline, but not peanut butter. Born enslaved, Carver developed an interest in botany and eventually earned a master’s degree from the Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University). He became a longtime teacher at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, an advocate for farmers, and an internationally renowned botanist who consulted for President Theodore Roosevelt and Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. Carver died in 1943 around age 78 and became the first African American to have a national monument created in his honor.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: George W. Carver
BORN: c. 1864
DIED: January 5, 1943
BIRTHPLACE: Diamond, Missouri

Early Life: When Was George Washington Carver Born?

George Washington Carver was most likely born in 1864 in Diamond, Missouri, during the Civil War years. Like many children of slaves, the exa

Over the course of his lifetime, Carver rose from slavery to become a renowned educator and research scientist. For over 40 years, he worked endlessly to find practical alternatives to improve the agricultural practices and thus the economic status of African Americans. He is regarded as one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.

Carver was born enslaved in Missouri near the end of the Civil War. From a young age, Carver’s intellectual curiosity was quickly recognized by those around him. By the age of thirteen, he was encouraged to go to Kansas where there were greater educational resources for black students. 

George lived briefly in several small towns before settling in Minneapolis, Kansas and enrolled in school there in September 1880.By 1883, George was celebrated as “…one of the most intelligent colored men of this part of the state…” (The Progressive Current, 22 Dec 1883). 

Carver was accepted into Highland College in 1885, but his admission was withdrawn when the college discovered he was black. He then found work with a family that was in th

Early Life

Born on a farm near Diamond, Missouri, the exact date of Carver’s birth is unknown, but it’s thought he was born in January or June of 1864.

Nine years prior, Moses Carver, a white farm owner, purchased George Carver’s mother Mary when she was 13 years old. The elder Carver reportedly was against slavery, but needed help with his 240-acre farm.

When Carver was an infant, he, his mother and his sister were kidnapped from the Carver farm by one of the bands of slave raiders that roamed Missouri during the Civil War era. They were resold in Kentucky.

Moses Carver hired a neighbor to retrieve them, but the neighbor only succeeded in finding George, whom he purchased by trading one of Moses’ finest horses. Carver grew up knowing little about his mother or his father, who had died in an accident before he was born.

Moses Carver and his wife Susan raised the young George and his brother James as their own and taught the boys how to read and write.

James gave up his studies and focused on working the fields with Moses. George, however, was a frail and sickly child who cou

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