george washington carver biography summary

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George Washington Carver

By: History.com Editors

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

Pioneering African American scientist George Washington Carver

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.

george washington carver biography summary

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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 .

george washington carver biography summary

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george washington carver biography summary

  • Scientific Biographies

George Washington Carver

Known to many as the Peanut Man, Carver developed new products from underappreciated Southern agricultural crops and taught poor farmers how to improve soil productivity.

black and white photo of George Washington Carver

In the post–Civil War South, one man made it his mission to use agricultural chemistry and scientific methodology to improve the lives of impoverished farmers.

George Washington Carver (ca. 1864–1943) was born enslaved in Missouri at the time of the Civil War. His exact birth date and year are unknown, and reported dates range between 1860 and 1865. He was orphaned as an infant, and, with the war bringing an end to slavery, he grew up a free child, albeit on the farm of his mother’s former master, Moses Carver. The Carvers raised George and gave him their surname. Early on he developed a keen interest in plants, collecting specimens in the woods on the farm.

George Washington Carver seated (front row, center) on steps at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, with staff, ca. 1902.

At age 11, Carver left home to pursue an education in the nearby town of Neosho. He was taken in by an African American couple, Mariah and Andrew Watkins, for whom he did odd jobs while attending school for the first time. Disappointed in the school in Neosho, Carver eventually left for Kansas, where for several years he supported himself through a variety of occupations and added to his education in a piecemeal fashion.

He eventually earned a high school diploma in his twenties, but he soon found that opportunities to attend college for young black men in Kansas were nonexistent. So in the late 1880s Carver relocated again, this time to Iowa, where he met the Milhollands, a white couple who encouraged him to enroll in college.

Carver briefly attended Simpson College in Indianola, studying music and art. When a teacher there learned of his interest in botany, she encouraged him to transfer to Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University), dissuading him from his original dream of becoming an artist. Carver earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from Iowa State in 1894 and a master’s in 1896. While there he demonstrated a talent for identifying and treating plant diseases.

George Washington Carver (second from right) with students in the chemistry laboratory at Tuskegee Institute, ca. 1902.

Around this time Booker T. Washington was looking to establish an agricultural department and research facility at his Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. Washington, the leading black statesman of the day, and two others had founded the institute in 1881 as a new vocational school for African Americans, and the institute had steadily grown.

As Carver was the only African American in the nation with an advanced degree in scientific agriculture, Washington sought him out. Carver joined the faculty of Tuskegee in 1896 and stayed there the rest of his life. He was both a teacher and a prolific researcher, heading up the institute’s Agricultural Experiment Station.

Crop Rotation

Carver’s primary interest was in using chemistry and scientific methodology to improve the lives of impoverished farmers in southeastern Alabama. To that end he conducted soil studies to determine what crops would grow best in the region and found that the local soil was perfect for growing peanuts and sweet potatoes. He also taught farmers about fertilization and crop rotation as methods for increasing soil productivity. The primary crop in the South was cotton, which severely depleted soil nutrients, but by rotating crops—alternating cotton with soil-enriching crops like legumes and sweet potatoes—farmers could ultimately increase their cotton yield for a plot of land. And crop rotation was cheaper than commercial fertilization. But what to do with all the sweet potatoes and peanuts? At the time, not many people ate them, and there weren’t many other uses for these crops.

George Washington Carver standing in a field, probably at Tuskegee, holding a piece of soil, 1906. He wears a suit, flower in his lapel, and a hat.

New Uses for “Undesirable” Crops

Carver went to work to invent new food, industrial, and commercial products—including flour, sugar, vinegar, cosmetic products, paint, and ink—from these “lowly” plants. From peanuts alone he developed hundreds of new products, thus creating a market for this inexpensive, soil-enriching legume. In 1921 Carver famously spoke before the House Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the nascent peanut industry to secure tariff protection and was thereafter known as the Peanut Man.

When he first arrived at Tuskegee in 1896, the peanut was not even a recognized U.S. crop; by 1940 it had become one of the six leading crops in the nation and the second cash crop in the South (after cotton). Both peanuts and sweet potatoes were slowly incorporated into Southern cooking, and today the peanut especially is ubiquitous in the American diet.

Carver also developed traveling schools and other outreach programs to educate farmers. He published popular bulletins, distributed to farmers for free, that reported on his research at the Agricultural Experiment Station and its applications.

Recognition

Through chemistry and conviction Carver revolutionized Southern agriculture and raised the standard of living of his fellow man. In addition to the popular honor of being one of the most recognized names in African American history, Carver received the 1923 Spingarn Medal and was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The George Washington Carver National Monument was the first national monument dedicated to a black American and the first to a nonpresident.

Featured image: George Washington Carver, Tuskegee Institute, 1906. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-J601-302/Frances Benjamin Johnston.

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  • 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.

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Biography of George Washington Carver, Discovered 300 Uses for Peanuts

He also found many uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes

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George Washington Carver (January 1, 1864–January 5, 1943) was an agricultural chemist who discovered 300 uses for peanuts as well as hundreds of uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. His work provided a much needed boost to southern farmers who benefited economically from his recipes and improvements to adhesives, axle 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.

Fast Facts: George Washington Carver

  • Known For : Agricultural chemist who discovered 300 uses for peanuts as well as hundreds of uses for other crops
  • Also Known As : The Plant Doctor, The Peanut Man
  • Born : January 1, 1864 in Diamond, Missouri
  • Parents : Giles and Mary Carver
  • Died : January 5, 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama
  • Education : Iowa State University (BA, 1894; MS, 1896)
  • Published Works : Carver published 44 agricultural bulletins laying out his findings while at the Tuskegee Institute, as well as numerous articles in peanut industry journals and a syndicated newspaper column, "Professor Carver's Advice."
  • Awards and Honors : The George Washington Carver Monument was established in 1943 west of Diamond, Missouri on the plantation where Carver was born. Carver appeared on U.S. commemorative postal stamps in 1948 and 1998, as well as a commemorative half dollar coin minted between 1951 and 1954, and many schools bear his name, as well as two United States military vessels. 
  • Notable Quote : "No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way are revealed to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain, I would be helpless. Only alone can I draw close enough to God to discover His secrets."

Carver was born on Jan. 1, 1864 near Diamond Grove, Missouri on the farm of Moses Carver. He was born into difficult and changing times near the end of the Civil War. The infant Carver and his mother were kidnapped by Confederate night-raiders and possibly sent away to Arkansas.

Moses found and reclaimed Carver after the war, but his mother had disappeared forever. The identity of Carver's father remains unknown, although he believed his father was an enslaved man from a neighboring farm. Moses and his wife reared Carver and his brother as their own children. It was on the Moses' farm that Carver first fell in love with nature and collected in earnest all manner of rocks and plants, earning him the nickname "The Plant Doctor."

Carver began his formal education at the age of 12, which required him to leave the home of his adopted parents. Schools were segregated by race at that time and schools for Black students weren't available near Carver's home. He moved to Newton County in southwest Missouri, where he worked as a farmhand and studied in a one-room schoolhouse. He went on to attend Minneapolis High School in Kansas.

College entrance was also a struggle because of racial barriers. At the age of 30, Carver gained acceptance to Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, where he was the first Black student. Carver studied piano and art but the college did not offer science classes. Intent on a science career, he later transferred to Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in 1891, where he gained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1894 and a Master of Science degree in bacterial botany and agriculture in 1896.

Carver became a member of the faculty of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanics (he was the first Black faculty member at the Iowa college), where he taught classes about soil conservation and chemurgy.

Tuskegee Institute

In 1897, Booker T. Washington , founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, convinced Carver to come south and serve as the school's director of agriculture, where he remained until his death in 1943. At Tuskegee, Carver developed his crop rotation method, which revolutionized southern agriculture. He educated farmers on methods to alternate the soil-depleting cotton crops with soil-enriching crops such as peanuts, peas, soybeans, sweet potato, and pecans.

America's economy was heavily dependent upon agriculture during this era, making Carver's achievements very significant. Decades of growing only cotton and tobacco had depleted the southern region of the United States. The economy of the farming South had also been devastated during the Civil War years and by the fact that the cotton and tobacco plantations could no longer use the stolen labor of enslaved people. Carver convinced southern farmers to follow his suggestions and helped the region to recover.

Carver also worked at developing industrial applications from agricultural crops. During World War I, he found a way to replace the textile dyes formerly imported from Europe. He produced dyes of 500 different shades and was responsible for the invention of a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans. For that, he received three separate patents.

Later Years and Death

After finding fame, Carver toured the nation to promote his findings as well as the importance of agriculture and science in general for the rest of his life. He also wrote a syndicated newspaper column, "Professor Carver's Advice," explaining his inventions and other agricultural topics. In 1940, Carver donated his life savings to establish the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee for continuing research in agriculture.

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

Carver was widely recognized for his achievements and contributions. He was given an honorary doctorate from Simpson College, named an honorary member of the Royal Society of Arts in London, England, and received the Spingarn Medal given every year by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . In 1939, he received the Roosevelt medal for restoring southern agriculture.

On July 14, 1943, The George Washington Carver Monument was established west of Diamond, Missouri, on the plantation where Carver was born and lived as a child. President Franklin Roosevelt provided $30,000 for the 210-acre complex, which includes a statue of Carver as well as a nature trail, museum, and cemetery. Additionally, Carver appeared on U.S. commemorative postal stamps in 1948 and 1998, as well as a commemorative half dollar coin minted between 1951 and 1954. Many schools bear his name, as do two United States military vessels.

Carver did not patent or profit from most of his products. He freely gave his discoveries to mankind. His work transformed the South from being a one-crop land of cotton to a region of multi-crop farmlands, with farmers having hundreds of profitable uses for their new crops. Perhaps the best summary of his legacy is the epitaph that appears on his gravesite: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."

  • “ Distinguished Alumni | Iowa State University Admissions. ”  Admissions , iastate.edu.
  • “ George Washington Carver. ”  Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 17 Apr. 2019.
  • “ George Washington Carver Publications from the Tuskegee Institute Bulletin, 1911-1943 3482. ”  George Washington Carver Publications from the Tuskegee Institute Bulletin, 1911-1943.
  • “ Learn About the Park. ”  National Parks Service , U.S. Department of the Interior.
  • Kettler, Sara. “ 7 Facts on George Washington Carver. ”  Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 12 Apr. 2016.
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The Carver Museum

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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” 

george washington carver biography summary

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

The Early Years

george washington carver biography summary

“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.

george washington carver biography summary

An Artistic Side

george washington carver biography summary

“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.”

george washington carver biography summary

Useful Bulletins by G.W. Carver

george washington carver biography summary

“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. 

george washington carver biography summary

Research For Practical Applications

george washington carver biography summary

“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.

george washington carver biography summary

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.

george washington carver biography summary

G.W. Carver Last Days

george washington carver biography summary

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 biography summary

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER NATIONAL MONUMENT

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

Our Monument to George Washington Carver

george washington carver biography summary

“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

george washington carver biography summary

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George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventions & Quotes

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was a prominent American scientist and inventor in the early 1900s. Carver developed hundreds of products using the peanut, sweet potatoes and soybeans. He also was a champion of crop rotation and agricultural education. Born into slavery, today he is an icon of American ingenuity and the transformative potential of education.

Carver was likely born in January or June of 1864. His exact birth date is unknown because he was born a slave on the farm of Moses Carver in Diamond, Missouri. Very little is known about George’s father, who may have been a field hand named Giles who was killed in a farming accident before George was born. George’s mother was named Mary; he had several sisters, and a brother named James.

When George was only a few weeks old, Confederate raiders invaded the farm, kidnapping George, his mother and sister. They were sold in Kentucky, and only George was found by an agent of Moses Carver and returned to Missouri. Carver and his wife, Susan, raised George and James and taught them to read.

James soon gave up the lessons, preferring to work in the fields with his foster father. George was not a strong child and was not able to work in the fields, so Susan taught the boy to help her in the kitchen garden and to make simple herbal medicines. George became fascinated by plants and was soon experimenting with natural pesticides, fungicides and soil conditioners. Local farmers began to call George “the plant doctor,” as he was able to tell them how to improve the health of their garden plants.

At his wife’s insistence, Moses found a school that would accept George as a student.  George walked the 10 miles several times a week to attend the School for African American Children in Neosho, Kan. When he was about 13 years old, he left the farm to move to Ft. Scott, Kan., but he later moved to Minneapolis, Kan., to attend high school. He earned much of his tuition by working in the kitchen of a local hotel. He concocted new recipes, which he entered in local baking contests. He graduated from Minneapolis High School in 1880 and set his sights on college.

College years

George first applied to Highland Presbyterian College in Kansas. The college was impressed by George’s application essay and granted him a full scholarship. When he arrived at the school, however, he was turned away — they hadn’t realized he was black. Over the next few years, George worked at a variety of jobs. He homesteaded a farm in Kansas, worked a ranch in New Mexico, and worked for the railroads, always saving money and looking for a college that would accept him.

In 1888, George enrolled as the first black student at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He began studying art and piano, expecting to earn a teaching degree. Carver later said, “The kind of people at Simpson College made me believe I was a human being.”  Recognizing the unusual attention to detail in his paintings of plants and flowers his instructor, Etta Budd, encouraged him to apply to Iowa State Agricultural School (now Iowa State University) to study Botany.

At Iowa State, Carver was the first African American student to earn his Bachelor of Science in 1894. His professors were so impressed by his work on the fungal infections common to soybean plants that he was asked to remain as part of the faculty to work on his master’s degree (awarded in 1896). Working as director of the Iowa State Experimental Station, Carver discovered two types of fungi, which were subsequently named for him. Carver also began experiments in crop rotation, using soy plantings to replace nitrogen in depleted soil. Before long, Carver became well known as a leading agricultural scientist.

Tuskegee Institute

In April 1896, Carver received a letter from Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute, one of the first African American colleges in the United States. “I cannot offer you money, position or fame,” read this letter. “The first two you have. The last from the position you now occupy you will no doubt achieve. These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place: work – hard work, the task of bringing people from degradation, poverty and waste to full manhood. Your department exists only on paper and your laboratory will have to be in your head.” Washington’s offer was $125.00 per month (a substantial cut from Carver’s Iowa State salary) and the luxury of two rooms for living quarters (most Tuskegee faculty members had just one). It was an offer that George Carver accepted immediately and the place where he worked for the remainder of his life.

Carver was determined to use his knowledge to help poor farmers of the rural South. He began by introducing the idea of crop rotation. In the Tuskegee experimental fields, Carver settled on peanuts because it was a simple crop to grow and had excellent nitrogen fixating properties to improve soil depleted by growing cotton. He took his lessons to former slaves turned sharecroppers by inventing the Jessup Wagon, a horse-drawn classroom and laboratory for demonstrating soil chemistry. Farmers were ecstatic with the large cotton crops resulting from the cotton/peanut rotation, but were less enthusiastic about the huge surplus of peanuts that built up and began to rot in local storehouses.

Peanut products

Carver heard the complaints and retired to his laboratory for a solid week, during which he developed several new products that could be produced from peanuts. When he introduced these products to the public in a series of simple brochures, the market for peanuts skyrocketed. Today, Carver is credited with saving the agricultural economy of the rural South.

From his work at Tuskegee, Carver developed approximately 300 products made from peanuts; these included: flour, paste, insulation, paper, wall board, wood stains, soap, shaving cream and skin lotion. He experimented with medicines made from peanuts, which included antiseptics, laxatives and a treatment for goiter.

What about peanut butter?

Contrary to popular belief, while Carver developed a version of peanut butter, he did not invent it. The Incas developed a paste made out of ground peanuts as far back as 950 B.C. In the United States, according to the National Peanut Board , Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, of cereal fame, invented a version of peanut butter in 1895.

A St. Louis physician may have developed peanut butter as a protein substitute for people who had poor teeth and couldn't chew meat. Peanut butter was introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.

Aiding the war effort

During World War I, Carver was asked to assist Henry Ford in producing a peanut-based replacement for rubber. Also during the war, when dyes from Europe became difficult to obtain, he helped the American textile industry by developing more than 30 colors of dye from Alabama soils.

After the War, George added a "W" to his name to honor Booker T. Washington. Carver continued to experiment with peanut products and became interested in sweet potatoes, another nitrogen-fixing crop. Products he invented using sweet potatoes include: wood fillers, more than 73 dyes, rope, breakfast cereal, synthetic silk, shoe polish and molasses. He wrote several brochures on the nutritional value of sweet potatoes and the protein found in peanuts, including recipes he invented for use of his favorite plants. He even went to India to confer with Mahatma Gandhi on nutrition in developing nations.

In 1920, Carver delivered a speech to the new Peanut Growers Association of America. This organization was advocating that Congress pass a tariff law to protect the new American industry from imported crops. As a result of this speech, he testified before Congress in 1921 and the tariff was passed in 1922.  In 1923, Carver was named as Speaker for the United States Commission on Interracial Cooperation, a post he held until 1933. In 1935, he was named head of the Division of Plant Mycology and Disease Survey for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By 1938, largely due to Carver’s influence, peanuts had grown to be a $200-million-per-year crop in the United States and were the chief agricultural product grown in the state of Alabama.

Carver's legacy

Carver died on Jan. 5, 1943. At his death, he left his life savings, more than $60,000, to found the George Washington Carver Institute for Agriculture at Tuskegee. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated funds to erect a monument at Diamond, Missouri, in his honor.

Commemorative postage stamps were issued in 1948 and again in 1998. A George Washington Carver half-dollar coin was minted between 1951 and 1954. There are two U.S. military vessels named in his honor.

There are also numerous scholarships and schools named for him. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Simpson College. Since his exact birth date is unknown, Congress has designated January 5 as George Washington Carver Recognition Day.

Carver only patented three of his inventions. In his words, “It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.” 

Carver quotes

"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."

"Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater."

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."

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

"Where there is no vision, there is no hope."

"Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise."

"There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything."

"Learn to do common things uncommonly well; we must always keep in mind that anything that helps fill the dinner pail is valuable."  

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George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver

  • Occupation: Scientist and educator
  • Born: January 1864 in Diamond Grove, Missouri
  • Died: January 5, 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama
  • Best known for: Discovering many ways to use the peanut

Professor Washington working in his lab

  • Growing up George had been known as Carver's George. When he started school he went by George Carver. He later added the W in the middle telling his friends it stood for Washington.
  • People in the south at the time called peanuts "goobers".
  • Carver would sometimes take his classes out to the farms and teach farmers directly what they could do to improve their crops.
  • His nickname later in life was the "Wizard of Tuskegee".
  • He wrote up a pamphlet called "Help for Hard Times" that instructed farmers on what they could do to improve their crops.
  • It takes over 500 peanuts to make one 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
  • Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

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The Legacy of Dr. George Washington Carver

Dr. george washington carver - 1943.

george washington carver biography summary

As a botany and agriculture teacher to the children of ex-slaves, Dr. George Washington Carver wanted to improve the lot of “the man farthest down,” the poor, one-horse farmer at the mercy of the market and chained to land exhausted by cotton.

Unlike other agricultural researchers of his time, Dr. Carver saw the need to devise practical farming methods for this kind of farmer. He wanted to coax them away from cotton to such soil-enhancing, protein-rich crops as soybeans and peanuts and to teach them self-sufficiency and conservation. 

Dr. Carver achieved this through an innovative series of free, simply-written brochures that included information on crops, cultivation techniques, and recipes for nutritious meals. He also urged the farmers to submit samples of their soil and water for analysis and taught them livestock care and food preservation techniques. 

The Jessup agricultural wagon

Dr. Carver’s practical and benevolent approach to science was based on a profound religious faith to which he attributed all his accomplishments. He always believed that faith and inquiry were not only compatible paths to knowledge, but that their interaction was essential if truth in all its manifold complexity was to be approximated. 

Always modest about his success, he saw himself as a vehicle through which nature, God and the natural bounty of the land could be better understood and appreciated for the good of all people.

Dr. Carver took a holistic approach to knowledge, which embraced faith and inquiry in a unified quest for truth. Carver also believed that commitment to a Larger Reality is necessary if science and technology are to serve human needs rather than the egos of the powerful.  His belief in service was a direct outgrowth and expression of his wedding of inquiry and commitment.  One of his favorite sayings was:

“It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.”

george washington carver biography summary

Accomplishing this in the midst of so much diversity will not be easy. We can, however, approximate it if we act on the belief in a common humanity, which binds us together despite our differences of race, nationality and culture, and a common destiny that can be secured only if science and technology seek to serve broad and deep societal needs. 

At Tuskegee  University, we continue to commit ourselves to inquiry and commitment, faith and knowledge, truth and service, scientific and technical competence, and ethical maturity. 

Such is the imprint of Dr. George Washington Carver upon us.       

Carver Chronology

On Jan. 5, 1943, Dr. George Washington Carver died. He left behind a legacy as not only one of America's greatest inventors, but also as a pioneering agriculturalist, award-winning artist and humble humanitarian.   READ MORE

Carver Peanut Products

Dr. George Washington Carver's work resulted in the creation of more than 300 products from peanuts, contributing greatly to the economic improvement of the rural South. See a list of some of his peanut products.   READ MORE

Carver Sweet Potato Products

A genius in botany and agricultural experimentation, Dr. George Washington Carver discovered more than 100 uses for the sweet potato and a variety of Southern plants. See a list of some of his sweet potato products.   READ MORE

Carver Bulletins

An advocate for crop rotation, Dr. George Washington Carver helped educate farmers in the rural South through his bulletins that contained invaluable advice about improving soils using fixed nitrogen crops and growing low input crops.   READ MORE

7 Achievements of George Washington Carver

by World History Edu · December 13, 2020

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver

Regarded as one of the most influential African Americans of the 20 th century, George Washington Carver was an American agricultural scientist and inventor renowned for his incredible works in promoting crop rotation in the South. Carver famously tackled soil depletion in the South by encouraging farmers to grow peanuts and other legumes on their land in order to make the land more fruitful. Due to his extensive works in the agricultural industry, as well as serving as huge role model to African Americans, George Washington Carver is arguably one of the greatest African American scientists of all time.

George Washington Carver: Fast Facts

Full name – George Washington Carver

Birth date and place – 1860s; Diamond, Missouri, United States

Death date and place – January 5, 1943; Tuskegee, Alabama, United States

Buried at – Tuskegee University

Parents – Giles and Mary

Education – Iowa State Agricultural College; Minneapolis High School

Spouse – none

Children – none

Also Known As – The Peanut Man, Black Leonardo; The father of the peanut industry

Notable Awards and Honors – Spingarn Medal in 1923

Influenced by – Moses Carver, Etta Budd, & James Wilson (4th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture)

Most famous for – being a huge influence on agricultural science and research

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver achievements | George Washington Carver’s reply when asked what motivated him

Achievements of George Washington Carver

The following are seven incredible achievements of George Washington Carver, an inventor who died at the age of 79 in 1943:

Devised innovative crop rotation techniques to improve depleted soils

George Washington Carver devoted a great chunk of his research into discovering techniques that were aimed at tackling soil depletion. For centuries, soils in the South had grown depleted to the extent that livelihoods of those farmers were threatened. The soil depletion was caused by repeated planting of cotton on those lands. Carver reasoned that by planting of peanuts, sweet potatoes and other legumes nitrogen could be restored to those depleted soils, thereby making the soil rich again. He encouraged farmers to practice systematic crop rotation where they would alternate cotton with those legumes.

He improved the lives of several farmers in Alabama

Aside from restoring the soil, this approach of his improved the cotton yield of farmers, thereby enhancing their standard of living. Farmers in the South could also benefit from the proceeds from those legumes. Carver set up agricultural extension programs in Alabama, training farmers in his systematic crop rotation technique.

Carver came out with numerous ways in which those new crops could be used. Through his research, he devised over 105 food recipes using peanuts. He hoped that by popularizing alternative uses of those crops, he would be able to create adequate demand for those crops, which would ultimately give the farmers additional source of income. Much of the work he did came through his industrial research laboratory, which had up-and-coming researchers that were as passionate to the cause as Carver himself.

Read More: 10 Greatest African-American Civil Rights Activists of All Time

He conducted extensive research into Crop rotation

As a renowned scientist of his generation, George Washington Carver primarily concerned himself with exploring alternative cash crops that could be beneficial to farmers. His intention was to use those crops to restore soils that have been depleted by years of repeated planting of cotton.

Carver served as a huge inspiration to young black students, encouraging them to take up profession in the agricultural sector. He developed an innovative way of bringing the activities of the classroom to farmers on the field. His mobile classroom initiative was financed by a philanthropist by name Morris Ketchum Jesup.

Carver’s work in the agricultural sector received enormous praise from Theodore Roosevelt

Due to the manner in which his research findings impacted the lives of farmers in the South, Carver’s reputation skyrocketed across the country. One of his biggest admirers was President Theodore Roosevelt himself. Carver also received tremendous praise from his former professors at Iowa State University. When the famous industrialist and inventor William C. Edenborn ventured into planting peanuts, Carver was called upon to offer guidance.

With his reputation growing fast, it was not surprising when the Royal Society of Arts in England made him a member in 1916. As the leading expert in peanut in the country, Carver came to be known as the “Peanut Man”. In a bid to promote peanuts in the country, he frequently attended conferences organized by the United Peanut Associations of America.

George Washington Carver published 44 academic bulletins in agriculture

Throughout his extensive research career, he published a total of 44 practical bulletins for farmers. His bulletins covered a wide array of agricultural topics, including animal husbandry, legumes, dairy, and meat production. Interestingly, his final bulletin was on the topic of peanut.

The most famous bulletin had to be How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption. The bulletin, which was published in 1916, received critical acclaim from both academia and farmers.

Read More: Top 10 Most Prominent African Leaders of All Time

His testimony before Congress helped get the Fordney-McCumber Tariff passed

Towards the latter part of the 1910s, peanut farmers from China repeatedly undercut their prices in the United States. This caused significant amount of hardship for several peanut farmers in the country. The peanut farmers called on Carver to serve as their spokesperson in their effort to impose tariffs on imported peanuts.

Carver was called to appear before Congress’ Ways and Means Committee in 1921. His testimony was instrumental in convincing House Representatives to pass the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922, which placed tariffs on imported peanuts, thereby protecting the livelihoods of American peanut farmers. Carver’s historic testimony before Congress boosted his image across the country. It also cemented him as the leading African-American scientist of that era.

george washington carver biography summary

George Washington Carver achievements

He was the head of the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee Institute

Having garnered some level of attention as a rising scientist, George Washington Carver was invited by Booker T. Washington to become a member of the faculty at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University). Booker T. Washington was the president and principal of the institute.

Carver had a very fruitful teaching career, serving as the head of the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee Institute for close to half a century. Kind courtesy to his dedication to research and teaching, the department was transformed into one of excellence. Carver was also in charge of the Agricultural Experiment Station farms that were used in generating additional income for the institute through the sale of farm products.

Did you know : George Washington Carver was the first African American to get a national monument in his honor? Construction of the national monument, which is called the George Washington Carver National Monument, began in 1943. It received $30,000 from the FDR administration. With the exclusion of U.S. presidents, Carver was the first person to receive a national monument. The 210-acre monument officially opened in July 1953.

Other notable accomplishments of George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver

Professor Carver’s contributions have been honored and celebrated with commemorative stamps and coins. | Image: 1948 US postage stamp

  • He was an avid writer of articles that were published in several peanut industry journals. He was also the author of a newspaper column known as Professor Carver’s Advice.
  • Carver was not the kind of researcher to profit from his expertise. He often gave technical advice of charge to businesses. For example, he and industrialist Henry Ford maintained a strong friendship. Ford is believed to have donated generously to Carver’s department at Tuskegee Institute.
  • In 1938, Carver used about US$60,000 of his own money in setting up the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee.
  • Carver’s extensive work in promoting peanuts was vital in keeping peanut production high after the industry was rocked by boll weevil. The researcher also maintained a working relationship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, offering his services in researching a host of plant diseases.
  • He was a key contributor to the development of branch of chemistry known as chemurgy. The branch entails researching into industrial application of agricultural produce.
  • George Washington Carver has been inducted into a number of organizations, including the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (in 1977) and the National Inventors Hall of Fame (in 1990).

Tags: Agriculture Famous Scientists Inventors The Peanut Man Tuskegee Institute

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Thy Black Man

Black History Month: Unearthing Genius – The Life and Legacy of George Washington Carver.

( ThyBlackMan.com ) In the mid to latter part of the twentieth century in the US you could rarely go to a city or county in the South that didn’t have a school named after George Washington Carver . Even during the days of virulent racial oppression and caste, George Washington Carver was viewed as “a credit to his race” and famous scientist who single-handedly saved Southern agriculture. Today many Black people and Euro-Americans don’t even know who George Washington Carver was. So as part of this year’s Black History articles I will share a bit of Carver’s personal and professional history, genius and accomplishments.

The exact date of George Washington Carver’s birth is not known. It is surmised he was born between 1863-1865 in Diamond Grove Missouri during the formal enslavement era. He was born into servitude, into a large family. His parents were “owned” by a man named Moses Carver. His family was given the surname of the White man who owned them, Carver. Before he was born George’s father died in an accident. As an infant George suffered several traumatic experiences. When he was only a few days old, George along with his mother and a sister were kidnapped by raiders and transported to Kentucky. Only George was found and retrieved by an agent working on behalf of Moses Carver. This was the norm during enslavement; “owners” would pay “agents”, trackers aka slave catchers to trail and retrieve their “property” as part of the federal government’s  Fugitive Slave Act .

When Carver was returned to Moses Carver’s farm he had no parents. His father had died before George was born and the trackers weren’t able to recapture his mother and sister so George and another brother James were raised by Moses Carver and his wife Susan.

George was a sickly boy so he was spared the hard work in the fields even after the War Between the States was over. Early on he developed a fascination with plants and herbs while living with the Carvers working in Mrs. Carver’s garden. Moses and Susan Carver also taught young George and his brother how to read and write.

George unlike many of his peers was able to attend school. He was sent to an all Black school in Neosho Missouri where he lived with a Black couple named Andrew and Mariah Watkins. He learned more about plants living and working for and with them but he subsequently left Neosho and migrated to Kansas. He completed high school in Kansas, applied to and was accepted at a White college that rejected him once they discovered he was Black . He applied to, was accepted and attended a college in Iowa, Simpson College, where he studied art and music but later transferred to and graduated from Iowa State Agricultural School now known as Iowa State University. Carver studied botany earning a Bachelor’s Degree in 1894, the first African American to do so. Carver remained at Iowa State Agricultural School earning a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science in 1896. He taught at the college once again he was the first Black to do so.

Booker T. Washington was looking for science teachers for his Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. In 1896 Booker T. Washington heard about George Washington Carver and recruited him to come to Tuskegee. There Carver spent his life teaching, researching, becoming a world renowned innovator, inventor and highly respected scientist.

Carver focused on service providing practical education and information to the rural Blacks in Alabama. Under Carver’s tutelage Tuskegee initiated mobile agricultural education programs, hands on demonstrations in the local communities to teach farming and animal husbandry skills to rural farmers. Using his research and ideas Carver showed the farmers how to use crop rotation to replenish the soil because exclusive cotton planting was depleting the nutrients in the soil. Carver used what he learned and taught at his Tuskegee teaching laboratory to help farmers increase the yields on their cotton crops by alternating planting cotton with soil improvement crops like soybeans, sweet potatoes and peanuts. He expanded the mobile outreach to offer midwifery, family hygiene with nurses to help educate and service rural Alabama communities.

Alabama farmers’ most profitable crop was cotton and many of them were leery of Carver’s instruction to plant soybeans, sweet potatoes and peanuts. Carver meanwhile was hard at work discovering new products that could be developed from those crops. Carver discovered and developed over three hundred products and new uses for those alternative crops which allowed the farmers to profit from his discoveries and save Southern agriculture in the process.

Carvers work and success brought him to the attention of government officials and industrialists like Henry Ford and Thomas A. Edison. Carver was often invited to Washington D.C. to testify before Congress or as a speaker at important policy meetings and educational seminars. His work benefited the whole nation not just Alabama!

George Washington Carver’s research saved Southern agriculture from self-destruction and in the process created new markets for plants many ignored, took for granted or failed to recognize their potential. Carver was not bitter about the racial caste and oppression he experienced during his life. He had an extremely positive philosophy about life. One of his many quotes about living and life was, “When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” Carver explained his success this way, “God is going to reveal to us things He never revealed before if we put our hands in His. No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way of doing it are revealed to me. I never have to grope for methods. The method is revealed to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.” During his life, Carver overcame obstacles and barriers and ended up a highly respected scientists during an era of virulent racial animus and terror.

Carver discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes as food, commercial and industrial products such as cooking oils, milk, soaps, cosmetics, medicines, dyes, paints, paper, and alternatives to silk and rubber. Prior to Carver arriving on Tuskegee’s campus in 1896 the peanut wasn’t even recognized as a bona fide US crop; but thanks to Carver by 1940 the lowly peanut was ranked number six and had become the second leading cash crop in the South behind cotton!

For all of his accomplishments and recognition George Washington Carver has a mild mannered humble and deeply spiritual man. He prayed and meditated and said the plants spoke to him and shared their secrets. Carver eschewed the spotlight and remained committed to serving his people using botany and chemistry to make a tremendous impact where he was. He turned down lucrative requests from Henry Ford and Thomas Edison to work with them. He only owned a few patents on his discoveries, he allowed others to take credit for his research and work.

Finish story here ; Black History Month: Unearthing Genius – The Life and Legacy of George Washington Carver.

Black History Month: Unearthing Genius - The Life and Legacy of George Washington Carver.

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Coffee with george washington carver.

Sweet potatos, peanuts, and booklets.

 Coffee With George Washington Carver   TO FILL THE EMPTY DINNER PAIL

On Thursday, February 15th you are invited to attend Coffee With Carver at 10:00 a.m. inside the visitor center at George Washington Carver National Monument. Coffee and hot tea will be available for you to enjoy as a park ranger shares a program about George Washington Carver’s work with peanuts and sweet potatoes. This outreach to impoverished sharecropping families included improving poor soil, growing nutrient-dense foods, recipes for family meals, and food preservation techniques. This valuable information was shared through agricultural bulletins, lectures, and the moveable school on wheels. Join a park ranger for this informative program on the fascinating work of George Washington Carver. Following the ranger talk, participants will gather in the science lab to make mock coconut, starch, and flour from sweet potatoes, and milk from peanuts! Coffee With Carver is a free program, supported by the Carver Birthplace Association. Save the date for the March 21st Coffee With Carver program, featuring George Washington Carver’s agricultural bulletin about wild edibles: Some Choice Wild Vegetables. Administered by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, George Washington Carver National Monument preserves the birthplace and childhood home of George Washington Carver - scientist, educator, and humanitarian. The park is located two miles west of Diamond, Missouri on Highway V, then ¼ mile south on Carver Road. For more information, please call the park at 417-325-4151 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., visit the park  Facebook  page. 

Last updated: February 6, 2024

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11 Famous Black Inventors Who Changed Your Life

From Madam C.J. Walker’s hair care products Mark Dean’s computer innovations, the creations from these Black inventors continue to impact everyday life.

preview for Madam CJ Walker - Mini Biography

In 1821, Thomas L. Jennings, who was emancipated from slavery, became the first Black inventor to be granted a U.S. patent. He opened the door for many other African Americans inventors—like Madam C.J. Walker , Frederick McKinley Jones , Patricia Bath , and Mark Dean —to similarly make their marks.

These 11 famous Black inventors developed ingenious products, machinery, and technology that continues to impact everyday life.

Keep Reading: How Lonnie Johnson Invented the Super Soaker • These Black Doctors and Nurses Broke New Ground in Health Care

Thomas L. Jennings

a man in a suit sits and looks forward

The first African American U.S. patent recipient, Thomas L. Jennings was working as a tailor and businessman in New York City when he invented a process for dry-cleaning delicate clothing known as “dry-scouring.” Jennings applied for a patent in 1820 and received his history-making approval the following year. With the money he earned from his invention, the formerly enslaved person donated to abolitionist causes and even reportedly freed his still-enslaved family members.

Sarah Boone

sarah boone posing in dress and with hand on her hip

In 1892, Sarah Boone patented a design improvement to Elijah McCoy ’s ironing board. The North Carolina native wrote in her application that the purpose of her invention was “to produce a cheap, simple, convenient, and highly effective device, particularly adapted to be used in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies’ garments.”

Alexander Miles

alexander miles looks to the left, he wears a suit jacket, collared shirt and tie with a large full beard

Anyone who’s ridden modern elevators has Alexander Miles to thank for the stair alternative’s automatic doors. Prior to his design’s 1867 patent, riders had to manually open and close two sets of doors when entering and exiting elevator cars. If a passenger happened to forget to close one of the doors, subsequent elevator riders risked a potentially fatal fall down the elevator shaft. Because, as the adage goes, necessity is the mother of invention, Miles created a mechanism that forced both elevator doors to close simultaneously, thus preventing dangerous accidents.

Elijah McCoy

elijah mccoy looks at the camera, he wears a jacket over a collared shirt and tie and has a full beard

Of the 57 patents Elijah McCoy —reportedly the namesake for the popular, complimentary phrase “the real McCoy”—received over his lifetime, the portable ironing board might be one of the most timeless. As the story goes, having to iron on uneven surfaces frustrated his wife, Mary Eleanor Delaney, and so he created the ironing board to make her life a little easier. McCoy received the patent for this particular creation in May 1874. He is also the man behind another major invention beloved by homeowners: the lawn sprinkler.

Read More about Elijah McCoy

Madam C.J. Walker

madam cj walker sits in the driver seat of an early car with the top down, a woman sits in the passenger seat, both women wear hats

Philanthropist and entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker was born to formerly enslaved sharecroppers and orphaned at just 7 years old. After later suffering hair loss from a scalp condition, Walker invented an innovative line of Black hair care products in 1905 that led to her distinction as one of America’s first self-made millionaires. Her highly successful cosmetics brand is still around today.

Read More about Madam C.J. Walker

Related: How Madam C.J. Walker Invented Her Hair Care Products

Garrett Morgan

black and white photo of garrett morgan, he looks at the camera and wears a wool jacket, collared shirt and tie, he has a medal on his jacket lapel

Garrett Morgan was a prolific Black inventor whose early patent for an improved sewing machine design provided financial security for him and his family. The Kentucky native was also concerned about the welfare of others. His “safety hood,” patented in 1914, was a breathing device that filtered out harmful elements and became the prototype for the World War I–era gas mask. He also created a more sophisticated traffic signal by adding a warning light, similar to what we use on streets today.

Read More about Garrett Morgan

Frederick McKinley Jones

frederick mckinley jones smiles at the camera while sitting at a table with a pencil in hand, paper and equipment rests on the table in front of him, behind is a bookshelf, he wears a collared shirt and patterned tie

Before Frederick McKinley Jones developed the automatic refrigeration equipment used in long-haul trucks that transport perishables in the late 1940s, the only way to keep food cold en route to delivery destinations was by using ice. Thanks to his invention, grocery stores were able to buy and sell products (many of which you probably purchase regularly) from far distances without the risk of them spoiling during transport. Jones’ technology was also used to transport blood during World War II .

Read More about Frederick McKinley Jones

Alice H. Parker

alice parker looks at the camera, she wears a dark top and necklace

1895-death unknown

The central heating furnace design that Alice H. Parker patented in December 1919 made use of natural gas for the first time to keep homes warm and toasty. Inspiring her innovation: the limited efficiency of fireplaces (along with the smoke and ash they produce) during the cold winters at her Morristown, New Jersey, house. Many modern homes still employ a similar forced air heating system for which her idea was a precursor.

Marie van Brittan Brown

marie van brittan brown looks to the right in sketch, she wears a collared shirt

Another New York City resident, Marie Van Brittan Brown created an early version of the modern home security system. Feeling unsafe due to her neighborhood’s high crime rate, the full-time nurse rigged a motorized camera to record her home entryway and project images onto a TV monitor. Also included in her setup was a two-way microphone in order to communicate with visitors without opening the door, as well as a panic button to notify police of any potential emergency in progress. After filing to patent the closed circuit TV security system in 1966, Brown received her approval in December 1969.

Patricia Bath

patricia bath smiles at the camera, she stands in front of a black background with white logos and wears a gray suit jacket with an orange, red, and black scarf, he holds one hand across her chest

A true visionary, Patricia Bath became the first Black female doctor to receive a medical patent when she invented a laser cataract treatment device called a Laserphaco Probe in 1986. It was one of several firsts the ophthalmologist achieved. The co-founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness patented her invention in 1988. Now used around the world, Bath’s device has improved sight for millions of people.

Read More about Patricia Bath

mark dean looks at the camera, he wears a blue collared shirt

1957-present

We have Mark Dean to thank for several computer innovations that we might take for granted today. The color PC monitor (that you might be using right now) is just one of them. With more than 20 patents to his name, Dean also led the IBM team that created the first gigahertz chip, a groundbreaking innovation that can handle a billion calculations per second, and co-created a system to allow peripheral devices like monitors and printers to plug directly into computers.

Read More about Mark Dean

Headshot of Adrienne Donica

Adrienne directs the daily news operation and content production for Biography.com. She joined the staff in October 2022 and most recently worked as an editor for Popular Mechanics , Runner’s World , and Bicycling . Adrienne has served as editor-in-chief of two regional print magazines, and her work has won several awards, including the Best Explanatory Journalism award from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers. Her current working theory is that people are the point of life, and she’s fascinated by everyone who (and every system that) creates our societal norms. When she’s not behind the news desk, find her hiking, working on her latest cocktail project, or eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. 

Black Inventors

lewis howard latimer stares at the camera in a black and white photo, he wears a suit with a patterned tie and wire framed glasses

George Washington Carver

black and white photo of madam cj walker

Lonnie Johnson

sarah boone stands for a portrait, she wears a dark dress with several buttons on the torso, her left hand rests on a chair back and her right hand rests on her hip with her elbow out

Henry Blair

stephen hawking smiles at the camera while sitting in his wheelchair in front of a green chalkboard with written equations, he wears a dark suit jacket and blue collared shirt with white pinstripes

22 Famous Scientists You Should Know

George Washington Carver Photo

7 Facts on George Washington Carver

famous inventors

40 Famous Inventors Who Changed History

dr marilyn gaston smiles down at the camera while standing with her arms crossed, she wears a red suit jacket, gold hoop earrings, a gold necklace, and a gold bracelet, her short hair is styled with loose curls, and her makeup includes soft red lipstick, in the background on the right is dr gayle porter who also has short hair and is smiling while looking away from the camera

8 Black Medical Pioneers You Should Know

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COMMENTS

  1. George Washington Carver

    George Washington Carver (born 1861?, near Diamond Grove, Missouri, U.S.—died January 5, 1943, Tuskegee, Alabama) was a revolutionary American agricultural chemist, agronomist, and experimenter who was born into slavery and sought to uplift Black farmers through the development of new products derived from peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans.

  2. George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventor, Scientist, Teacher

    George Washington Carver was a Black scientist and inventor famous for his work with the peanut; he invented more than 300 products involving the crop, including dyes, plastics, and gasoline,...

  3. George Washington Carver: Facts, Inventions & Quotes

    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.

  4. George Washington Carver

    George Washington Carver ( c. 1864 [1] - January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. [2] He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.

  5. George Washington Carver

    Carver earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural science from Iowa State in 1894 and a master's in 1896. While there he demonstrated a talent for identifying and treating plant diseases. Tuskegee George Washington Carver with students in the chemistry laboratory at Tuskegee Institute, ca. 1902.

  6. 7 Facts on George Washington Carver

    Famous Scientists Black History 7 Facts on George Washington Carver The African American agricultural scientist invented more than 300 products from the peanut plant. By Sara Kettler Updated:...

  7. George Washington Carver

    By Nicholas St. Fleur 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...

  8. George Washington Carver

    Carver was born a slave on the plantation of Moses Carver near Diamond Grove, Missouri, sometime during the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865. His father appears to have died in a log-rolling accident shortly after George ' s birth.

  9. George Washington Carver, Agricultural Chemist

    George Washington Carver (January 1, 1864-January 5, 1943) was an agricultural chemist who discovered 300 uses for peanuts as well as hundreds of uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. His work provided a much needed boost to southern farmers who benefited economically from his recipes and improvements to adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink ...

  10. George Washington Carver : The Carver Museum

    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.

  11. George Washington Carver

    George Washington Carver (c. early 1864 - January 5, 1943) was an African American botanist who dedicated his life to applying science and technology toward benefiting the lives of everyday people. Despite the fact that he was born into difficult and changing times near the end of the Civil War and had to deal with the challenges of slavery and poverty, Carver made contributions to the ...

  12. How George Washington Carver Went From Enslaved to ...

    He didn't begin formal education until he was about 12. Unable to attend the local white people-only elementary school, George left the Carvers farm to pursue his education in Neosho, Missouri ...

  13. George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventions & Quotes

    By Mary Bagley published 7 December 2013 Caption George Washington Carver, circa 1910. (Image credit: Public domain.) George Washington Carver was a prominent American scientist and...

  14. George Washington Carver: Inventions, Facts and Biography

    Biography of George Washington Carver While he spent his most glorious days in Tuskegee, George Washington Carver was born in Diamond Grove, Missouri, just prior to the abolition of slavery.

  15. George Washington Carver

    0:59 George Washington Carver was born in slavery but went on to win worldwide respect for his work as a scientist. By finding new ways to process peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes, he helped to make them important crops in the southern United States. Carver was born in about 1861 near Diamond Grove, Missouri. At about age 12 he left home.

  16. George Washington Carver: An American Biography Summary

    Critical Essays Holt presents Carver's life as a heroic story of an unusually gifted and talented individual who combined hard work, religious faith, and personal goals to benefit people of all...

  17. Biography: George Washington Carver

    Died: January 5, 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama Best known for: Discovering many ways to use the peanut Biography: Where did George grow up? George was born in 1864 on a small farm in Diamond Grove, Missouri. His mother Mary was a slave owned by Moses and Susan Carver. One night slave raiders came and stole George and Mary from the Carvers.

  18. George Washington Carver

    Dr. George Washington Carver - 1943. Research Scientist Extraordinaire, Inventor, Man of Faith, Educator and Humanitarian. As a botany and agriculture teacher to the children of ex-slaves, Dr. George Washington Carver wanted to improve the lot of "the man farthest down," the poor, one-horse farmer at the mercy of the market and chained to land exhausted by cotton.

  19. George Washington Carver : From Slave to Scientist

    George Washington Carver. : Once a kidnapped slave baby, George Washington Carver found freedom in learning everything he could about the world around him. Overcoming poverty and racism, George became a brilliant scientist and a gifted professor who dedicated his expertise to helping black farmers escape the devastating grip of poverty.

  20. 7 Achievements of George Washington Carver

    Full name - George Washington Carver. Birth date and place - 1860s; Diamond, Missouri, United States. Death date and place - January 5, 1943; Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. Buried at - Tuskegee University. Parents - Giles and Mary. Education - Iowa State Agricultural College; Minneapolis High School.

  21. Black History Month: Unearthing Genius

    The exact date of George Washington Carver's birth is not known. It is surmised he was born between 1863-1865 in Diamond Grove Missouri during the formal enslavement era. He was born into ...

  22. George Washington Carver

    An indefatigable researcher and inventor, George Washington Carver died in Tuskegee, Ala., 5 January 1943. George Washington Carver (SSB (N)-656) was laid down by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. 24 August 1964; launched 14 August 1965; sponsored by Miss Marian Anderson; and commissioned 15 June 1966, Captain R. D. Dona van (blue crew ...

  23. George Washington Carver's Powerful Circle of Friends

    Henry Ford first sought out Carver's advice in the 1920s, beginning a friendship that lasted until Carver's death in 1943. Ford was deeply interested in developing alternative energy sources ...

  24. Coffee with George Washington Carver

    On Thursday, February 15th you are invited to attend Coffee With Carver at 10:00 a.m. inside the visitor center at George Washington Carver National Monument. Coffee and hot tea will be available for you to enjoy as a park ranger shares a program about George Washington Carver's work with peanuts and sweet potatoes.

  25. 11 Famous Black Inventors Who Changed Your Life

    Adrienne directs the daily news operation and content production for Biography.com. ... 7 Facts on George Washington Carver. 40 Famous Inventors Who Changed History.