George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was born in 1860 near Diamond Grove, Missouri. He died January 5, 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was an agricultural chemist and experimenter who became a benefactor of the American South and a cultural hero. He dedicated his life to bettering and improving the economy of the South by improving the soil and crop diversification. Carver and his mother were slaves. Their slave master's name was Moses Carver. George and his mother were sent to Arkansas because it was difficult to hold slaves in the border state of Missouri.

Moses Craver, their slave master, found out that his mother and other slaves had disappeared except for the George who had become very ill with whooping cough. Carver, frail and sick, was returned to his former master's home. There his health returned to normal. George learned to draw and spent considerable amounts of time painting flowers, plants, and landscapes. Amongst the blacks he was known as a singer and an organist. When he left the Carver's, they pronounced him as no longer being a slave. He developed an interest in plants and animals. In his late 20's, he managed to obtain a high school education in Kansas by working as a farmhand.

A university in Kansas refused to admit Carver because he was black. Since he was not accepted to the university in Kansas he had to go to Simpson College. From there he transferred to Iowa State Agricultural College where he received a degree in Agricultural Science in 1894 and a Master of Science degree in 1896. Carver went to Tuskegee Institute because he believed that this industrial type of education would help solve the race problem. Carver had many offers to other colleges but he remained at Tuskegee because he believed in its destiny as an institution for black people. Many scientists did not like Carver. They did not even consider him a scientist, just a contributor to agriculture.