George Washington Carver

Many people are destined to do great things. George Washington Carver is a black man that made his destiny come true. George Carver was born into slavery Newton County, Marion Township near Diamond Grove Missouri. His mother was brought from William P. McGinnis to Moses Carver. On down the line George, his mother, and his sister was kidnapped by Confederate Knight Rider and was sold in Arkansas.

When they were kidnapped, Moses Carver sent a man by the name of Bentley to find them. But Bentley only found Carver was found near death, his mother and his sister wasn't no where to be found. It was said that they was dead and also that they might be in the north. Because of his fitness he was never able to work in the field because he had a respiratory disease. Even though he wasn't able to work in the field he became fascinated with and his master gave him the name "The Plant Doctor".

After slavery was abolished his former master raised him and her brother. They took it upon themselves to educated George; they wanted him to have a chance to have an education. Later on in his education days George Carver went to college. He was accepted to a college but when they found out that he was black he was kicked out. He was accepted into Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He later transferred to Iowa State University around 1891. It wasn't until he went to college when he added Washington to his name. The reason why changed his name was because someone already had that name. This is how he the name George Washington Carver was born.

Around 1896 George Washington Carver received his master degree in agriculture and botany. Around this time Booker T. Washington recruited him to come to Tuskegee, Alabama to be the head of the Department of Agriculture at the college. George would be able to work down there with the southerners because they were having trouble with the crops. He wanted them to have a chance to learn how to use the soil. So his concern was to help them to learn how to grow numerous and different varieties of crops.

While he was working at the school he wanted to know the properties of the peanut. So he started to take it apart, he saved the reddish skin and the broken shells. He grounded the peanut into a powder substance and then he mashes it beneath a hand press. Which dripped an oily content, and then he broke the oil up into substances and made soap, cooking oil, and rubbing oil for the skin. He used the mashed peanut and extracted milk like substance from it, which he used to make some cheese out of it. He used the rest of the smashed peanut and added water and enzymes so it can help brake down the protein in the peanut. He broke the different parts of the protein in the peanut and found out that when it broken down it contains enough protein as a pound of beefsteak.

Carver spent long hours breaking up the particles from the peanut; he was taking it apart chemically. He found out that it had all type of simpler substances. He then used the recombined the substances under different temperatures and pressures with other substances and made food, medicines, and other basic materials. With the red peanut skins he made paper from that, from the shells he made soil conditioners and an insulting board. This is just one of the main things that he had founded by experimenting with the peanuts.

One of the reasons why Carver went back was to help the southerners with their cotton problem. There was a creature called the Boll Weevil is a dark creature that ate on the cotton and laid eggs so that it's young can eat. It was only a quarter inch long and it was causing a big problem for the farmers. One of the suggestions that Carver made to the farmers was "Burn off your infested cotton!" But no one would listen to him; they felt that cotton needed to be grown so that people could have clothes. It was hard for them to think of growing peanuts in the place were they were growing their cotton. Carver knew the peanut was a good source and nutrition and that it was a good for the land.

1906 he told the farmers that the weevils weren't going anywhere and that it was only going to get worse. He was convinced that only another crop could save the farmers. But Carver went back to his experiments, and was introduced to the Chinese soybean. He produced flour, meal, and even milk; he believes that one day it would be introduce to the farmers. It wasn't until he tricked a couple of business men to dinner is where he told them that they were eating food made by peanuts. They laughed but applaud towards the end. The people as starting to come around after Carver explain that the weevils will not stop. They would continue to eat the cotton, and their children will eat their cotton.

Soon after that peanut was the number one from Montgomery to the Florida borders, they then started to try and introduce it to the north. January of 1918 the army wanted George to come to Washington and demonstrate his sweet potatoes experiments. They was pleased with the idea and wanted to know more. The sweet potatoes were soon shipped out to armies across America. This would soon be a discovery for dehydrated food that the army would use in the future.

Many acres of the peanuts were being planted; every time George would enter into the country someone would have a new peanut recipe. One man said that his mother used peanuts to make coffee. He said that she roasted the peanuts, let them cool down and then roasted them again. Every one was prospering from George Washington Carver peanut idea. Around 1921 Carver was to speak in front of the United Peanut Association of America. He was worried that they would not want to hear him out, but they did only giving him ten minutes. The first thing that George Washington Carver showed them was a chocolate peanut from a store that made it. He said to them is that the peanut and the sweet potato was a gift to God. He also mentions that if other food sources were destroyed they could get their nutriment from peanuts and sweet potatoes.

He then holds up another one of his product that he brought along, salted peanuts, which was a favorite among people. He showed several kinds of food from peanuts. He showed that peanut skins could make thirty dyes shaded from orange-yellow to black. Then he showed them peanut milk. He showed them that peanut milk and regular milk looked the same; he also showed butter milk made from milk. He even started to talk about the many things peanuts and sweet potatoes could make. If it weren't for this meeting that peanut would have a lot of money on tariff goods.

George used his time to try and market some of the invention that he had made. The product was an emulsion of creosote and peanuts called Penol, it used as a medication when Carver invented. 1926 a group of Carver associates