biography of george washington carver answer key

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

George Washington Carver

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 24, 2023 | Original: October 27, 2009

George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts (though not peanut butter, as is often claimed), sweet potatoes and soybeans. Born into slavery before it was outlawed, Carver left home at a young age to pursue education and would eventually earn a master’s degree in agricultural science from Iowa State University. He would go on to teach and conduct research at Tuskegee University for decades, and soon after his death his childhood home would be named a national monument—the first of its kind to honor a Black American.

Born on a farm near Diamond, Missouri , the exact date of Carver’s birth is unknown, but it’s thought he was born in January or June of 1864.

Nine years prior, Moses Carver, a white farm owner, purchased George Carver’s mother Mary when she was 13 years old. The elder Carver reportedly was against slavery , but needed help with his 240-acre farm.

When Carver was an infant, he, his mother and his sister were kidnapped from the Carver farm by one of the bands of slave raiders that roamed Missouri during the Civil War era. They were resold in Kentucky .

Moses Carver hired a neighbor to retrieve them, but the neighbor only succeeded in finding George, whom he purchased by trading one of Moses’ finest horses. Carver grew up knowing little about his mother or his father, who had died in an accident before he was born.

Moses Carver and his wife Susan raised the young George and his brother James as their own and taught the boys how to read and write.

James gave up his studies and focused on working the fields with Moses. George, however, was a frail and sickly child who could not help with such work; instead, Susan taught him how to cook, mend, embroider, do laundry and garden, as well as how to concoct simple herbal medicines.

At a young age, Carver took a keen interest in plants and experimented with natural pesticides, fungicides and soil conditioners. He became known as the “the plant doctor” to local farmers due to his ability to discern how to improve the health of their gardens, fields and orchards.

At age 11, Carver left the farm to attend an all-Black school in the nearby town of Neosho.

He was taken in by Andrew and Mariah Watkins, a childless Black couple who gave him a roof over his head in exchange for help with household chores. A midwife and nurse, Mariah imparted on Carver her broad knowledge of medicinal herbs and her devout faith.

Disappointed with the education he received at the Neosho school, Carver moved to Kansas about two years later, joining numerous other Blacks who were traveling west.

For the next decade or so, Carver moved from one Midwestern town to another, putting himself through school and surviving off of the domestic skills he learned from his foster mothers.

He graduated from Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas, in 1880 and applied to Highland College in Kansas (today’s Highland Community College ). He was initially accepted at the all-white college but was later rejected when the administration learned he was Black.

In the late 1880s, Carver befriended the Milhollands, a white couple in Winterset, Iowa , who encouraged him to pursue a higher education. Despite his former setback, he enrolled in Simpson College , a Methodist school that admitted all qualified applicants.

Carver initially studied art and piano in hopes of earning a teaching degree, but one of his professors, Etta Budd, was skeptical of a Black man being able to make a living as an artist. After learning of his interests in plants and flowers, Budd encouraged Carver to apply to the Iowa State Agricultural School (now Iowa State University ) to study botany.

HISTORY Vault: Black History

Watch acclaimed Black History documentaries on HISTORY Vault.

Carver Makes Black History

In 1894, Carver became the first African American to earn a Bachelor of Science degree. Impressed by Carver’s research on the fungal infections of soybean plants, his professors asked him to stay on for graduate studies.

Carver worked with famed mycologist (fungal scientist) L.H. Pammel at the Iowa State Experimental Station, honing his skills in identifying and treating plant diseases.

In 1896, Carver earned his Master of Agriculture degree and immediately received several offers, the most attractive of which came from Booker T. Washington (whose last name George would later add to his own) of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University ) in Alabama .

Washington convinced the university’s trustees to establish an agricultural school, which could only be run by Carver if Tuskegee was to keep its all-Black faculty. Carver accepted the offer and would work at Tuskegee Institute for the rest of his life.

Tuskegee Institute

Carver’s early years at Tuskegee were not without hiccups.

For one, agriculture training was not popular—Southern farmers believed they already knew how to farm and students saw schooling as a means to escape farming. Additionally, many faculty members resented Carver for his high salary and demand to have two dormitory rooms, one for him and one for his plant specimens.

Carver also struggled with the demands of the faculty position he held. He wanted to devote his time to researching agriculture for ways to help out poor Southern farmers, but he was also expected to manage the school’s two farms, teach, ensure the school’s toilets and sanitary facilities worked properly, and sit on multiple committees and councils.

Carver and Washington had a complicated relationship and would butt heads often, in part because Carver wanted little to do with teaching (though he was beloved by his students). Carver would eventually get his way when Washington died in 1915 and was succeeded by Robert Russa Moton, who relieved Carver of his teaching duties except for summer school.

What Did George Washington Carver Invent?

By this time, Carver already had great successes in the laboratory and the community. He taught poor farmers that they could feed hogs acorns instead of commercial feed and enrich croplands with swamp muck instead of fertilizers. But it was his ideas regarding crop rotation that proved to be most valuable.

Through his work on soil chemistry, Carver learned that years of growing cotton had depleted the nutrients from soil, resulting in low yields. But by growing nitrogen-fixing plants like peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, the soil could be restored, allowing yield to increase dramatically when the land was reverted to cotton use a few years later.

To further help farmers, he invented the Jessup wagon, a kind of mobile (horse-drawn) classroom and laboratory used to demonstrate soil chemistry.

Carver: The Peanut Man

Farmers, of course, loved the high yields of cotton they were now getting from Carver’s crop rotation technique. But the method had an unintended consequence: A surplus of peanuts and other non-cotton products.

Carver set to work on finding alternative uses for these products. For example, he invented numerous products from sweet potatoes, including edible products like flour and vinegar and non-food items such as stains, dyes, paints and writing ink.

But Carver’s biggest success came from peanuts.

In all, he developed more than 300 food, industrial and commercial products from peanuts, including milk, Worcestershire sauce, punches, cooking oils, salad oil, paper, cosmetics, soaps and wood stains. He also experimented with peanut-based medicines, such as antiseptics, laxatives and goiter medications.

It should be noted, however, that many of these suggestions or discoveries remained curiosities and did not find widespread applications.

In 1921, Carver appeared before the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on behalf of the peanut industry, which was seeking tariff protection. Though his testimony did not begin well, he described the wide range of products that could be made from peanuts, which not only earned him a standing ovation but also convinced the committee to approve a high protected tariff for the common legume.

He then became known as “The Peanut Man.”

Fame and Legacy

In the last two decades of his life, Carver lived as a minor celebrity but his focus was always on helping people.

He traveled the South to promote racial harmony, and he traveled to India to discuss nutrition in developing nations with Mahatma Gandhi .

Up until the year of his death, he also released bulletins for the public (44 bulletins between 1898 and 1943). Some of the bulletins reported on research findings but many others were more practical in nature and included cultivation information for farmers, science for teachers and recipes for housewives.

In the mid-1930s, when the polio virus raged in America, Carver became convinced that peanuts were the answer. He offered a treatment of peanut oil massages and reported positive results, though no scientific evidence exists that the treatments worked (the benefits patients experienced were likely due to the massage treatment and attentive care rather than the oil).

Carver died on January 5, 1943, at Tuskegee Institute after falling down the stairs of his home. He was 78 years old. Carver was buried next to Booker T. Washington on the Tuskegee Institute grounds.

Soon after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation for Carver to receive his own monument, an honor previously only granted to presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln .

The George Washington Carver National Monument now stands in Diamond, Missouri. Carver was also posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.”

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”

George Washington Carver; American Chemical Society . George W. Carver (1865? – 1943); The State Historical Society of Missouri . George Washington Carver; Science History Museum . George Washington Carver, The Black History Monthiest Of Them All; NPR . George Washington Carver And The Peanut; American Heritage .

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

• (602)675-4755

[email protected]

(602) 675-4755.

George Washington Carver

“The Primary idea in all my work was to help the farmer and fill the poor man’s empty dinner pail … My idea is to help the ‘man farthest down’; This is why I have made every process as simple as I could to put it within his reach.”

George W. Carver

George Washington Carver, Born a slave around 1864, became a famous artist, teacher, scientist, and humanitarian. From childhood, he developed a remarkable understanding of the natural world. Carver devoted his life to improving agriculture and the economic conditions of African-Americans in the south.

In 1896, Booker T Washington hired Carver to teach agriculture at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Over a 40-year career, Carver taught many generations of Tuskegee students. He emphasized increasing the independence of local farmers. He believed that a practical education would both make African-Americans and white farmers self-sufficient.

“It has always been the one ideal of my life to be of the greatest good to the greatest number of my people possible and to this end I have been preparing myself for these many years, feeling as I do that this line of education is the key” 

Struggle and Triumph: The Legacy of George Washington Carver  (NPS Movie 28min) 

The Early Years

“Day after day I spent in the woods… to collect my floral beauties… all sorts of vegetation seemed to thrive under my touch until I was styled the plant doctor, and plants from all over the county would be brought to me for treatment”

 George Washington Carver

Born as a slave on a small farm in Diamond Grove, Missouri; the best information suggest he was born in 1864, near the end of the civil war. To appreciate nature and to assist his learning, George began a lifelong habit of taking long walks to observe nature and collect specimens.

Religion also played an important role in Carver’s life. It broke down social and racial barriers and was the inspiration for his research and teachings. Yet, he did not allow his beliefs to conflict with his scientific knowledge.

“The Great Creator… permit(s) me to speak to Him through… the animals, mineral and vegetable kingdoms…”

The School Days of G.W. Carver

“If you love it enough, anything will talk to you”  

In the 1880s, local white schools did not allow African American students. Therefore, even though he had a great desire for knowledge, carver attended school whenever he could.

  In 1890, Carver went to Simpson College Iowa to study art. Although African Americans were not allowed to register eventually Carver was admitted to class and he proved to be a talented artist. He paid for his tuition by doing laundry, cooking, and selling his paintings. Carver switched to agriculture studies because he saw this as a better way to contribute to his people. Carver set out to find practical ways to benefit African American farmers.

That led to enrolling at Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa. His teachers commented that Carver was “a brilliant student and collector.” He worked at the colleges’ experimental station until graduating with a Master of Science degree. He became an expert in field collecting, plant breeding, and plant diseases.

An Artistic Side

“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world” 

When young, Carver loved to draw and paint pictures. Originally an art student in college, he switched to agricultural studies. Yet, Carver continued to paint all of his life and one of his paintings won Honorable Mention at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Carver also would crochet, knit, and do needlework. Always practical, this enabled him to produce useful items for his friends. He learned how to dye his own thread and fibers with local trees, plants, and clay.

Carver collected local clays and extracted their pigments to make paints good enough to attract commercial paint companies. These paints were displayed in his laboratory and at county fairs. He used these paints in his artwork. He also developed house paint colors to encourage local farmers to improve the appearance of their homes. He arranged different paints into pleasing combinations for ceiling, cornices, and walls. Many buildings on the Tuskegee campus and throughout the area used these paint combinations.

Teaching Others

“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom”

Booker T. Washington hired the best and brightest African American professionals to Tuskegee Institute. In 1896, he hired a young teaching assistant, George Washington Carver. They both believed a practical education was the best path to self-sufficiency for African Americans. Hired to head its Agriculture Department, Carver taught for 47 years, developing the department into a strong research center.

Carver spread the self-sufficiency message at schools, farms, and county fairs. Carver believed students learned best by doing. He expected students to “figure it out for themselves and to do all the common things uncommonly well.” Carver developed close personal relationships with his students, farmers, and powerful philanthropist with his engaging and charming talks and publications.

Booker T. Washington realized that Carver was a “great teacher, a great lecturer, and a great inspirer of young men and old men.”

Useful Bulletins by G.W. Carver

“In painting, the artist attempt to produce pleasing effects through the proper blending of colors. The. Cook must blend her food in such a manner as to produce dishes which are attractive. Harmony in food is just as important as harmony in colors.”   

Carver was a talented and innovative cook. He developed recipes for tasty and nutritious dishes that used local and easily-grown crops. He trained farmers to successfully rotate and cultivate new crops and encouraged better nutrition in the South. Carver developed an agricultural extension program for Alabama that used Tuskegee Institute bulletins. In these bulletins, Carver shared his recipes with farmers and housewives.

During his more than four decades at Tuskegee, Carver published 44 practical bulletins for farmers. His first bulletin in 1898 was on feeding acorns to farm animals. His final bulletin in 1943 was about the peanut. Other individual bulletins dealt with sweet potatoes, cotton, cowpeas, alfalfa, wild plums, tomatoes, ornamental plants, corn, poultry, dairying, hogs, preserving meats in hot weather, and nature study in schools.

His most popular bulletin, How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption ,  was first published in 1916 and was reprinted many times. Carver’s bulletins were not the first American agricultural bulletins devoted to peanuts, but his bulletins were more popular and widespread than others.

Agricultural School On Wheels

Booker T Washington directed his faculty to “take their teaching into the community”

To take lessons to the community, Carver designed a “movable school.” Students built a wagon named for Morris k Jesup, a New York financier who gave Carver the money to equip and operate the movable school. The first one was a horse-drawn agricultural wagon called a Jesup Wagon. Later, a truck still called a Jesup Wagon carried agricultural exhibits to county fairs and community gatherings.

By 1930, the “Booker T Washington Agricultural School on Wheels” carried a nurse, a home demonstration agent, an agricultural agent, and an architect to share the latest techniques with rural people. Eventually, educational films and lectures were presented at local churches and schools. These vehicles were the foundation of Tuskegee’s extension services. 

Research For Practical Applications

“Soil enrichment, natural fertilizer use, and crop rotation” were Carvers message to students and farmers

From 1915 to 1923, Carver developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated planting of cotton. Also, in the early 20th century, the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crops, and planters and farm workers suffered. Together with other agricultural experts, he urged farmers to restore nitrogen to their soils by practicing systematic crop rotation: alternating cotton crops with the planting of sweet potatoes, peanuts, or soybeans. These alternative crops restored nitrogen to the soil and were also good for human consumption. Following the crop rotation practice resulted in improved cotton yield and gave farmers alternative cash crops. He also began research into crop products (chemurgy), and taught generations of black students farming techniques for self-sufficiency. In these years, he became one of the most well-known African Americans of his time.

Always looking for practical solutions from his wide-ranging research, Carver experimented with seeds, soils, soil enrichment, and feed grains. All of his efforts were geared to increasing the self-sufficiency of African American farmers. Ahead of his time, Carver used plant hybridization and recycling the use of locally available technology.

Carver’s research also looked to provide a replacement for commercial products, which were generally beyond the budget of the small one-horse farmer. George W. Carver reputedly discovered three hundred uses for peanuts and hundreds more for soybean, pecans, and sweet potatoes. These alternative products included adhesives, axel grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder, and wood stain.

Later Years

“Professor Carvers Advice” – George W Carver’s syndicated newspaper column

During the last two decades of his life, Carver seemed to enjoy his celebrity status. He was often on the road promoting the Tuskegee Institute, peanut, and racial harmony. Although he only published six agricultural bulletins in 1922, he published articles in peanut industry journals and wrote a syndicated newspaper column., “Professor Carver’s Advice.” Business leaders came to seek his help, and he often responded with free advice.

From 1933 to 1935, Carver worked to develop peanut oil massages to treat polio. Ultimately researchers found the massages, not the peanut oil, provided the benefits of maintaining some mobility in paralyzed limbs.

Carver had been frugal in his life, and in his 70s, he established a legacy by creating a museum on his work and the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee to continue agricultural research. He donated $60,000 in his savings to create the foundation.

G.W. Carver Last Days

Inscribed on Mr. Carver’s tombstone are the words, “He could have added fortune to his fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world”

Upon returning home one day, Carver took a bad fall down a flight of stairs; he was found unconscious by a maid who took him to the hospital. Carver died January 5, 1943, at the age of 78 from complications (anemia) resulting from his fall. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute.

National Recognition and Naming

His work, which began for the sake of the poorest farmers, paved the way for a better life for the entire South and became an inspiration to all.

George Washington Carver was born a slave. Since his owner was Moses Carver and given the first name of George, Carver referred to himself as Carver’s George. This was more a property description than a name. When George left to attend school, he slept in a barn owned by the Watkins family. Of hearing how George referred to himself, Mrs. Watkins told him that was no proper name and declared that henceforth he would be George Carver.

Like the man, Carver High school did not start with that name. The Phoenix Union High School district opted to officially embrace segregation. In 1925, to accommodate African American high school students, a bond issue was passed to erect a new high school building. The new school was named the Phoenix Union Colored High school until 1940 when the school became the Phoenix Colored High School. On January 5, 1943, George Washington Carver Died and a few months later the school took on the name of this distinguished educator, scientist, and innovator. In 1953, educational segregation was ruled unconstitutional in Arizona and the school closed the following year.

Why are so many schools, parks, and other landmarks named in honor of Carver? Carver came to stand as a symbol of the intellectual achievements of African Americans. He brought about a significant advance in agricultural training in an era when agriculture was the largest single occupation of Americans. It is so often said that Carver saved Southern agriculture and helped feed the country. His great desire was simply to serve humanity; and his work, which began for the sake of the poorest black sharecroppers, pave the way for a better life for the entire South and became an inspiration to all.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER NATIONAL MONUMENT

George Washington Carver National Monument orientation video. (NPS Movie 5min)

Our Monument to George Washington Carver

“How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

The George Washington Carver statue greeting visitors to the Carver Museum is an exhibit all to itself. The sculpture, Mr. Ed Dwight, is an internationally acclaimed sculptor whose works grace various venues around the United States. Among his works are major African American historic figures.

The Carver Statue was unveiled on February 15, 2004, in a ceremony where Governor Janet Napolitano, among many others, addressed the crowd. The artist, Ed Dwight, spoke movingly before the unveiling. There were musical presentations and acknowledgments of many distinguished guests. Visitors who have viewed and photographed the statue have praised its artistry.

The Carver Statue is an artistic achievement and a worthy monument to its namesake. This exquisite work faithfully captures Carver’s delicate features and somehow reflects the genius and hope that defined the man.

Explore Your Next Virtual Exhibit

Help Us Preserve Our History!

Donate $1 donate $5 donate $10 donate $25 donate $50, 415 e. grant street phoenix, az 85004, mailing address: po box 20491 phoenix, az 85036-0491, office hours, monday-thursday 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. friday 9:00 a.m.-noon, group tours by appointment only. please call or email us to schedule in advance before visiting. walk-in museum visits not available at this time., get involved, become a volunteer, join our board of directors.

The Carver Museum © 2023. All Rights Reserved. Website Sponsored by Compass CBS . Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

• African American Heroes

George Washington Carver

How this scientist nurtured the land—and people’s minds

To George Washington Carver, peanuts were like paintbrushes: They were tools to express his imagination. Carver was a scientist and an inventor who found hundreds of uses for peanuts. He experimented with the legumes to make lotions, flour, soups, dyes, plastics, and gasoline—though not peanut butter!

Carver was born an enslaved person in the 1860s in Missouri . The exact date of his birth is unclear, but some historians believe it was around 1864, just before slavery was abolished in 1865. As a baby, George, his mother, and his sister were kidnapped from the man who enslaved them, Moses Carver. The kidnappers were slave raiders who planned to sell them. Moses Carver found George before he could be sold, but not his mother and sister. George never saw them again.

After slavery was abolished, George was raised by Moses Carver and his wife. He worked on their farm and in their garden, and became curious about plants, soils, and fertilizers. Neighbors called George “the plant doctor” because he knew how to nurse sick plants back to life. When he was about 13, he left to attend school and worked hard to get his education.

In 1894 he became the first Black person to graduate from Iowa State College, where he studied botany and fungal diseases, and later earned a master’s degree in agriculture. In 1896, Booker T. Washington offered him a teaching position at Tuskegee Institute, a college for African Americans.

There, Carver’s research with peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans flourished. He made agricultural advancements to help improve the lives of poor Black farmers like himself. With the help of his mobile classroom, the Jesup Wagon, he brought his lessons to former enslaved farmworkers and used showmanship to educate and entertain people about agriculture.

On January 5, 1943, Carver died after falling down some stairs. But his contributions to the field of agriculture would not be forgotten. Carver became the first Black scientist to be memorialized in a national monument, which was erected near his birthplace in Diamond Grove, Missouri.

Read this next!

African american pioneers of science, black history month, 1963 march on washington.

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your California Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell My Info
• National Geographic
• National Geographic Education
• Shop Nat Geo
• Customer Service
• Manage Your Subscription

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

7 Facts on George Washington Carver

The African American agricultural scientist invented more than 300 products from the peanut plant.

He was known as the young 'plant doctor'

Even as a child, Carver was interested in nature. Spared from demanding work because of his poor health, he had the time to study plants. His talents flourished to the extent that people started to ask him for help with their ailing vegetation.

In a 1922 interview, he recalled, "Often the people of the neighborhood who had plants would say to me, 'George, my fern is sick. See what you can do with it.' I would take their plants off to my garden and there soon have them blooming again ... At this time I had never heard of botany and could scarcely read."

Though Carver would gain new skills over the years, the path he'd follow in life was clear.

Appearing before Congress made him the 'Peanut Man'

Besides peanuts, Carver's research also involved clays, seeds and sweet potatoes. So why is his name associated with just one legume? It's thanks in large part to an appearance he made before the House Ways and Means Committee.

In 1920, Carver spoke at the United Peanut Association of America's convention. He was such a success that the group decided to have him tell Congress about peanuts and the need for a tariff in January 1921.

Though his congressional presentation didn't start out well — the representatives weren't predisposed to listen to a Black man — Carver ended up winning over the committee. They were drawn into testimony that covered many of the products Carver had created with peanuts, such as flour, milk, dyes and cheese, and ended up inviting him to take as much time as he needed to talk.

After his appearance, peanuts and Carver were intertwined in the public's mind. The scientist didn't mind the association; however, when asked in 1938 if his work with peanuts was his best, Carver answered, "No, but it has been featured more than my other work."

READ MORE: How George Washington Carver Went From Enslaved to Educational Pioneer

He believed peanuts could fight polio

Polio victims were often left with weakened muscles or paralyzed limbs. Carver felt that peanuts — or rather peanut oil — could help these people regain some lost function.

In the 1930s, Carver began to treat patients with peanut oil massages. He reported positive results, which in turn made more and more people want to undergo the treatment. Even Franklin D. Roosevelt joined in; gifted with the oil by Carver, he told the scientist, "I do use peanut oil from time to time and I am sure that it helps."

Unfortunately, despite the improvements that Carver witnessed and reported, there was never any scientific evidence that peanut oil actually helped polio victims recover. Instead, the patients may have benefited from the massage treatment itself, as well as the attentive care that Carver provided.

He didn’t write down details

Though Carver worked on many products, both peanut and non-peanut, he didn't see the need to keep detailed records.

In 1937, Carver was asked for a list of the peanut products that he'd developed. He wrote in reply, "There are more than 300 of them. I do not attempt to keep a list, as a list today would not be the same tomorrow, if I am allowed to work on that particular product. To keep a list would also give the Institute a great deal of trouble, as people would write wanting to know why one list differs from another. For this reason we have stopped sending out lists."

However, Carver did see the point in writing down advice and recipes, which he shared in agricultural bulletins such as "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption" (1916). So while you can't see all of Carver's formulas, Carver's instructions for peanut soup, peanut bread, peanut cake and more are available!

He was a well-connected man

Carver was a friend, colleague or associate to a veritable "Who's Who" of the 20th century. This began in 1896 when Booker T. Washington hired him to oversee the agricultural department at the Tuskegee Institute.

Between 1919 and 1926, Carver corresponded with John Harvey Kellogg (of cereal fame), as they shared an interest in food and health. Carver and automaker Henry Ford quickly struck up a friendship after meeting in 1937. Carver would stop by Ford's laboratory in Dearborn, Michigan, and Ford himself visited Tuskegee in Alabama. Ford also gave the funds to install an elevator in Carver's dormitory as the scientist grew weaker in his later years.

Carver's connections also extended outside the United States. Supporters of Mahatma Gandhi asked Carver for advice about how Gandhi could build up strength in between hunger strikes. And the Indian leader wrote Carver to thank him for sending agricultural bulletins.

READ MORE: George Washington Carver’s Powerful Circle of Friends

He considered weeds 'nature’s vegetables'

Along with peanuts, Carver felt that weeds — or "nature's vegetables" — were a nutritious and undeveloped food source for America. Carver once noted, "There is no need for America to go hungry as long as nature provides weeds and wild vegetables..."

Ford shared this appreciation for wild greens. He'd happily eat sandwiches made by his friend Carver, which contained ingredients such as wild onion, peppergrass, chickweed, wild lettuce and rabbit tobacco.

But before you rush outside to harvest your next salad or sandwich filling, you should know that not everyone was a fan of Carver's weed-based preparations. "They tasted terrible and if we didn't say they were good he got mad," a former student of Carver's complained in 1948.

He cared about people, not money

Throughout his life, Carver's actions demonstrated how little he cared for money. For example, he turned down a six-figure job offer from Thomas Edison . Carver also didn't spend much on clothes (and consequently was always shabbily dressed).

In addition, Carver filed only three patents on the products he'd developed. As he explained, "One reason I never patent my products is that if I did, it would take so much time I would get nothing else done. But mainly I don't want any discoveries to benefit specific favored persons. I think they should be available to all peoples."

In 1917, Carter revealed what motivated him: "Well, some day I will have to leave this world. And when that day comes, I want to feel that my life has been of some service to my fellow man." When he passed away in 1943, it would seem he had lived just such a life.

Black History

10 Famous Langston Hughes Poems

5 Crowning Achievements of Maya Angelou

Ava DuVernay

Octavia Spencer

Inventor Garrett Morgan’s Lifesaving 1916 Rescue

Get to Know 5 History-Making Black Country Singers

Frederick Jones

Lonnie Johnson

10 Black Authors Who Shaped Literary History

Benjamin Banneker

George Washington Carver

Back to Biography for Kids

George Washington Carver Biography Research, Reading Passage, Graphic Organizer

• Google Apps™

What educators are saying

Also included in.

Description

Learn about the scientist and inventor, George Washington Carver, through a fun, easy-to-read reading passage, QR Codes for additional biography research, comprehension activities that support the sequence of events and categorizing facts, and a simple biography report. Help students research information about George Washington Carver or write a biography report on this historical figure.

This biography of George Washington Carver is a great way to combine reading, writing, and social studies.

The George Washington Carver Biography and Report includes:

• Vocabulary Cards with key terms from the biography reading passage
• Vocabulary Activities such as match and Fryer Model
• Poster of the historical figure in color & black and white
• Reading Passage in two formats (back and white one-page; color with photos two-page)
• QR Codes for additional research of the person
• Graphic Organizer for note-taking and report writing
• Fact Sort where students can categorize the key events and attributes
• Short Answer Comprehension Questions for the biography
• Summary Page
• Report Pages in several formats
• Pages without "cute" graphics for older readers

Google Classroom™ Digital Version

• Google Slides™ with vocabulary activities, reading passages, websites for additional research, graphic organizers, fact sorts, comprehension questions, and writing pages.

This George Washington Carver Biography aligns well with my Biography Report for ANY Person . While this biography includes report pages, the Biography Report for ANY Person includes MANY more options and an in-depth study of biography report writing.

Also available are QR Codes for Biography Research Reports . QR Codes are included in this individual biography report. BUT if you want more QR Codes for other biographical people, they’re available separately.

Also available are Biographies for:

• Booker T Washington
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Garrett Morgan
• Frederick Douglass
• George Washington Carver
• Harriet Tubman
• Jackie Robinson
• Jesse Owens
• Louis Armstrong
• Bessie Coleman
• Mae Carol Jemison
• Maya Angelou
• Ruby Bridges
• Sojourner Truth
• Thurgood Marshall
• Abraham Lincoln
• Benjamin Franklin
• Clara Barton
• George Washington
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Amelia Earhart

. . . and more coming soon!

___________________________________________________________________________

CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ME ON TPT | CLICK HERE TO CHOOSE A FREE RESOURCE

TERMS OF USE

Copyright © What I Have Learned, Jessica Boschen

Permission to copy for single classroom or homeschool family use only.

This product may not be distributed or displayed digitally for public view.

Please purchase additional licenses if you intend to share this product.

Questions & Answers

What i have learned.

• We're hiring
• Help & FAQ
• Privacy policy
• Student privacy
• Terms of service
• Tell us what you think

• George Washington Carver Biography

George Washington Carver was born around 1864 in Diamond, Missouri . Although the date of his birth is unknown, we do know that it was before Missouri abolished slavery. George Washington Carver is best-known for his contributions to the agricultural sciences, as well as for his environmental work. Through his research, he came up with over 300 derivative products for peanuts and 118 uses for sweet potatoes. This was key in helping impoverished black farmers rotate crops (thereby adding nutrients to the soil via restored nitrogen) and added an income source other than cotton.

George Washington Carver was born to Mary and Giles Carver, who had been purchased by Moses Carver in 1855 for $700. George was an infant when he, his mother, and his sister were kidnapped by slave traders. His brother, James, was hidden away and not captured. Moses Carver sent someone to recover them, however, only George was brought back from Kentucky , where the kidnappers had sold the slaves.

The George Washington Carver Monument preserves the scientist's childhood home in Diamond, Missouri. 

Susan and Moses raised the two boys after slavery had ended. Susan taught George how to read and they both encouraged him in his academic pursuits. Because black children were not allowed to attend the local school in Diamond Grove, George walked to Neosho when he was between 11 and 12 years old. Here, he stayed with Andrew and Mariah Watkins and studied at the school. The couple was black and childless and in exchange for help with the household chores, they allowed Carver to stay. Mariah was a midwife and taught Carver much of her knowledge of medicinal herbs and plants.

For several years, Carver traveled around the Midwest , supporting himself with his domestic skills while learning whatever he could in school. In 1880, after graduating from high school George applied to Highland College in Kansas and was initially accepted, but when the administration realized he was black, they rescinded the acceptance to the all-white school. In 1890 he began to study piano and art at Simpson College in Iowa. He then moved on to studying botany at the Iowa State Agricultural School - known today as Iowa State University - and received both his Bachelor’s (1894) and his Master’s (1896) degrees from the school. He was the first African-American to earn a Bachelor’s of Science. Upon graduation with his Master’s degree, he received several offers of work. He decided to accept Booker T. Washington’s invitation to join the Tuskegee Institute.

Tuskegee Institute

Carver came to the Institute and built his department and laboratory from the ground up; he would teach there for 47 years, until the day he died. To entice him, Booker T. Washington offered him two private rooms as well as a higher salary than most other staff received. It was unusual for an unmarried professor to have one private room, let alone two.

George Washington Carver taught classes and did research. Much of his research was around soil and plants. He is credited with introducing the idea of planting peanuts as a crop; he discovered that the boll weevil, which was attacking cotton plants, did not eat peanuts. Peanuts and soy beans both belong to the legumes family and alternating them (and sweet potatoes) with other crops would enable the soil to heal by returning nitrogen to it. Then, when the cotton plants were reintroduced, the soil would be healthier and yield stronger crops. Carver took the classroom to the farms by traveling to the farms in a “Jesup wagon” which was a sort of mobile laboratory and classroom that he invented.

The rotation of crops led to a surplus of peanuts, soy, and sweet potatoes. So Carver investigated and experimented with ways to use these products. He is credited with discovering over 300 products using peanuts and 118 using sweet potatoes. Some of the products included flour, vinegar, stains, dyes, paints, cosmetics, cooking oils and salad oils, medicines, and soaps. Due to his work in peanuts, he was asked to speak in 1920 to the Peanut Grower’s Association and to testify before Congress in 1921 in support of a tariff on imported peanuts.

Recognition and Awards

During his lifetime and posthumously, Carver received many honors and accolades. He was honored by Time Magazine, who named him a “Black Leonardo” and featured him in a 1941 issue. He was made a member of the Royal Society of Arts (in England) in 1916. Carver received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in 1923. George Washington Carver was the first African-American to be honored with the naming of a national park – and the movement for this to occur began before his death. It is located in Missouri, in Diamond. There is also not one, but two postage stamps that were issued with his image and name on it. One in 1948 and the second in 1998. A half dollar also was in circulation from 1951-1954 with his image.

A postage stamp honoring George Washington Carver, circa 1998. Editorial credit: Olga Popova / Shutterstock.com. 

George Washington Carver died in 1943 at the age of 78 after falling down a flight of stairs and having complications from the fall. He is buried at Tuskegee Institute, right next to Booker T. Washington.

More in Feature

Are Former Soviet Member Countries More Religious Today?

5 Facts To Know About The Future Of Buddhism

Reasons Why Muslims Are The World’s Fastest-growing Religious Group

The Uprising At Sobibor Extermination Camp

How Many People Have Ever Lived On Earth?

Fact Check – Are No Two Snowflakes Exactly Alike?

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum: Beyond The Public View

The Three Rs Of Animal Testing: A More Humane Approach To Animal Experimentation