George Washington Carver

This is a picture of George Washington Carver.



George Washington Carver was born in 1859?. He was born a slave on a farm near Diamond Grove, Missouri. One night some raiders stole George and his mother. The owner of George and his mother, Mary, was Moses Carver. Moses Carver knew a man that could help find slaves that had been taken by raiders. So Moses Carver payed the man to find George and his mother. All he could find was baby George. The Carver's took care of the baby. George was not a very strong boy like his brother Jim, so he helped around the house with Mrs. Carver. Every thing that someone could do he would say "I can do that." and went and did it. His nickname was "The Plant Doctor" because if anyone had a dead plant they would call on George. Back then there were no schools for black people in Diamond Grove. When he was about ten years old he said to Mrs. Carver "I want to go to school. Can I go down to Nesho and go to school?" So Mrs. Carver helped George pack his things. When he was all packed up he waved his good-byes and started down the road to Nesho. When he got to Nesho it was not time for school yet so he sat on some wood to wait till school started. He was startled by a woman beside him. She asked him "What are you doing there on my wood?". So George told her why and that he was very hungry. The woman smiled and told George to come in. The woman's name and her husband's name was Andy and Mariah Watkins. The Watkins deiced to let George stay with them while he was going to school. On Sundays they went to church. When George had learned all he could from the little school it was time to find a bigger school . With sad good-byes he was on his own again. He set up a laundry business in the towns he went to. It was said that he could do laundry better than any woman in town. George entered college and did laundry for the students so he could pay for school. After graduating from college George received a letter from Booker T. Washington asking him to come and teach at Tuskgegee Institute. . Tuskegee is in Alabama. Well George was a teacher in the plant department. He was disappointed because he started off with just 13 students. When the years went by George Washington Carver had over 20 students! He discovered flour and vinegar from sweet potatoes. These are just two ways of the 118 uses of for sweet potatoes. He found over 300 uses for peanuts!! One time he made a whole meal from peanuts by putting peanuts in different things. These are some of the things he made with peanuts peanut milk, ink, shampoo, rubbing oil, peanut cream, peanut butter, peanut cheese, peanut oil, and metal polish. George Washington Carver died in 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama. The students buried him not far from the Tuskegee Institute.

Isaac Chandler Camp

Resources:
ABeka History (Our American Heritage)
The World Book Encyclopedia
The Story of George Washington Carver (Scholastic Biography)