George Washigton Carver

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver is one of the best known black inventors. He is most known for inventing over three hundred uses for the peanut. He was only issued three patents but countless products of his are in use today. From mayonaise to instant coffee, Carver loved to invent.

Carver was born in 1864 in Missouri. His father was a farmer and slave named Moses Carver. Born in hard times during the Civil war, Carver learned to be sparing and to improvise. His mother was captured and killed by Confederates when he was very young. Carver had no real education until he was twelve, but he taught himself by collecting rocks and plants. This earned him the nickname the "plant doctor."

Being black made it hard to be accepted into college, but Carver made it into Simpson College and later transferred into Iowa Agricultural College. He then taught at the college as the professor of chemurgy and soil conservation. In 1897, Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, convinced Carver to come and serve as the school's Director of Agriculture. Carver stayed at the faculty until his death in 1943.

While in Tuskegee, Carver developed most of his inventions. He learned to make adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder and wood stain all from plants and nuts. He also developed a crop rotation system of his own which made it much easier to farm in the South. Maybe Carver's biggest accomplishment was turning down the $100,000(now about 1 million dollars) offer to work for the United States Government. Carver wanted to stay true to his roots rather than work for people he didn't believe in.

Carver lived a long and productive life. He received the Spingarn Medal in 1923, given every year by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1939, he received the Roosevelt medal for restoring Southern agriculture. Carver died in 1943.