George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver

	George Washington Carver was born in Diamond, Missouri at about 1865 as a slave child on Moses and Susan’s farm. Born and raised by his mother Mary, George was always having a whooping cough. One cold night, night raiders or slave robbers, came and took Mary and George from their home. The Carvers hired their neighbor, John Bentley, to go and find Mary and George. When John returned he had only brought back George and said that his mother could not be found. This was the beginning of George Washington Carver’s life.

	Since George was a very sick child and always having a whooping cough, he was given the job of working around the house and his favorite job, working in the garden. When George was not tending the garden or doing house chores he was always roaming the nearby woods and streams. He explored anything unusual such as reptile and insects. George kept his own frog collection and geological finds in a place where nobody could find as he would watch them progress. He had his own nursery in the woods and learned how to turn sick plants to healthy plants. This helped him be friendly with his neighbors and gained him the name "plant doctor."

George had his own playmates to play childhood games with. Though his parents and playmates were white, he developed a strong friendship with most everybody and continued contact with them even after he left his hometown. The nighttime was about the same as everybody’s, except George and his brother went out to explore while the elders were asleep. During the night he would observe plants and also have fun riding sheep until punished by his parents. George learned very quickly. He mastered everything that was taught to him. This life style helped him become aware of his special talents before the difference of his skin color.

Having white friends and white parents, George was excepted by anybody he came into contact with. He had a strong religious faith. There was no official religion for him, but he attended a little Locust Grove Church. While attending this church, he received religious practicing from a large variety of Methodist, Baptist, Campbellite, and Presbyterian circuit preachers. This gave George an unorthodox and nondenominational faith that would stay with him for the rest of his life. Part of that faith was a deep belief in revelation being give...

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... nutritional value and could be used in cooking and baking. Over the years he invented many useful ways to use peanuts. Many synthetic products were also developed by George such as the ones listed below.

Adhesives Axle GreaseBleach ButtermilkCheese Chili SauceCream CreosoteDyesFlour Fuel BriquettesInkInstant Coffee Insulating BoardLinoleumMayonnaiseMealMeat Tenderizer 	Metal PolishMilk FlakesMucilagePaperRubbing OilsSalveSoil ConditionerShampooShoe PolishShaving CreamSugarSynthetic MarbleSynthetic RubberTalcum PowderVanishing CreamWood StainsWood FillerWorcestershire Sauce

Source: Hattie Carwell. Blacks in Science: Astrophysicist to Zoologist

(Hicksville, N.Y.: Exposition Press), 1977.

	It is no doubt that George Washington Carver had a major impact on our lives. From everything he accomplished and everything he developed the world may not have been that same, thanks to him. George died on January 5th, 1943 at 7:30 P.M. He was laid to rest near the grave of Booker T. Washington. Before his death, he created the George Washington Carver Foundation in which Henry Ford was the trustee. In Tuskegee, Alabama is where the George Washington Carver Museum is located.