George Washington Carver

Carver was born a slave in Missouri. Although is exact birth date is unknown it has been narrowed down to July 12, 1861. Carver was only an infant when his dad was killed an he, his brother and mother were kidnapped. He was then orphaned and Moses Carver, his owner, bought George back in exchange for a horse. The horses value was estimated at 300 dollars.

Carvers first schooling took place in a single room school house for black children. After regular schooling, he enrolled at Highland University. He had the grade but due to the fact that he was black he was denied. He then enrolled at Simpson College in Iowa where he worked as a cook to pay of his tuition. Carver wander to be an artist and he also showed promise as a painter. His art teacher steered him away from art and encouraged him to enroll at State Agricultural College in Ames. There he earned his bachelors degree. He then went to the Ames Experiment Station where he was employed by Louis Pammel.

In 1896, Carver went to Tuskegee Institute to lead the newly established department of agriculture.

For the rest of his life, Carver put together a laboratory, made useless and over-farmed land farmable, and continued research. Much of the land in the South had been over-farmed. All of the soil's nutrients had been depleted by the cotton and tobacco plant. Carver improved soil with his own blend of fertilizers. He also advised farmers to plant peanuts and sweet potatoes, he told them this would help the soil. So many farmers did this and were stuck with peanuts and sweet potatoes. So he made over 300 bi-products from plants such as cereal, oils, dyes, and soaps. In addition, Carver developed a "school on wheels" to teach farmers from Alabama the essentials for soil enrichment.

Carver had experimented with various types of fertilizers. He grew huge vegetables with these fertilizers. He also crossed a long stalk and a short stalk of cotton to produce a new plant known as Carvers Hybrid.

Carvers many achievements made him easily promotable to high salary jobs but he refused a raise and he stayed with the 1500 dollar annual salary he started with during his first year of employment.

Carver published a total of 44 books and received countless numbers of awards, metals, and honors.

In 1940, the Carver Research Foundation was formed at Tuskegee. He volunteered almost all of his life savings to this institute.

George Washington Carver died in 1943 at the age of 82. Congress made January 5th of each year as a day to honor Carver and his achievements.

Bibliography

• 1991 Encyclopedia Americana
• 1995 Microsoft Bookshelf
• 1994 Academic American Encyclopedia