Quick Facts
- NAME: George Washington Carver
- OCCUPATION: Inventor, Botanist, Chemist
- BIRTH DATE: c. January 1864
- DEATH DATE: January 05, 1943
- EDUCATION: Simpson College, Simpson College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Diamond Grove, Missouri
- PLACE OF DEATH: Tuskegee, Alabama
Best Known For
George Washington Carver was an agricultural chemist whose development of products derived from peanuts revolutionized the South's agricultural economy.
Videos see all videos
George Washington Carver - Mini Bio
A short biography of the life of George Washington Carver.
George Washington Carver. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 11:24, Feb 07, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299
George Washington Carver [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299, February 07
" George Washington Carver." 2012. Biography.com 07 Feb 2012, 11:24 http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299
' George Washington Carver', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299 [accessed Feb 07, 2012]
" George Washington Carver," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299 (accessed Feb 07, 2012).
George Washington Carver [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 Feb 07]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299.
George Washington Carver, http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299 (last visited Feb 07, 2012).
George Washington Carver, http://www.biography.com/people/george-washington-carver-9240299 (last visited Feb 07, 2012).
Synopsis
George Washington Carver was born into slavery in 1861 near Diamond Grove, Mo. He remained on their plantation until he was about 10, when he left to acquire an education. After becoming the Tuskegee Normal institute's director of agricultural research in 1896, he devoted his time to research projects aimed at helping Southern farmers improve their economic situation.
Quotes
"There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation—veneer isn't worth anything."
"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in."
"Learn to do common things uncommonly well; we must always keep in mind that anything that helps fill the dinner pail is valuable."
"Ninety-nine percent of all failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
"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."
Profile
(born 1864, near Diamond Grove, Mo., U.S.—died Jan. 5, 1943, Tuskegee, Ala.) American agricultural chemist, agronomist, and experimenter whose development of new products derived from peanuts (groundnuts), sweet potatoes, and soybeans helped revolutionize the agricultural economy of the South. For most of his career he taught and conducted research at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Tuskegee, Ala.
Carver was the son of a slave woman owned by Moses Carver. During the Civil War, slave owners found it difficult to hold slaves in the border state of Missouri, and Moses Carver therefore sent his slaves, including the young child and his mother, to Arkansas. After the war, Moses Carver learned that all his former slaves had disappeared except for a child named George. Frail and sick, the motherless child was returned to his former master's home and nursed back to health. The boy had a delicate sense of colour and form and learned to draw; later in life he devoted considerable time to painting flowers, plants, and landscapes. Though the Carvers told him he was no longer a slave, he remained on their plantation until he was about 10 or 12 years old, when he left to acquire an education. He spent some time wandering about, working with his hands and developing his keen interest in plants and animals.
By both books and experience, George acquired a fragmentary education while doing whatever work came to hand in order to subsist. He supported himself by varied occupations that included general household worker, hotel cook, laundryman, farm labourer, and homesteader. In his late 20s he managed to obtain a high school education in Minneapolis, Kan., while working as a farmhand. After a university in Kansas refused to admit him because he was black, Carver matriculated at Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa, where he studied piano and art, subsequently transferring to Iowa State Agricultural College (Ames, Iowa), where he received a bachelor's degree in agricultural science in 1894 and a master of science degree in 1896.
Carver left Iowa for Alabama in the fall of 1896 to direct the newly organized department of agriculture at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, a school headed by the noted black American educator Booker T. Washington. At Tuskegee, Washington was trying to improve the lot of black Americans through education and the acquisition of useful skills rather than through political agitation; he stressed conciliation, compromise, and economic development as the paths for black advancement in American society. Despite many offers elsewhere
GetGlue
-
Celebrate Black History with BIO and GetGlue
All February, check in daily to BIO Black History on GetGlue to unlock stickers, videos, and more!
Black History
-
Black History Groups
Learn more about the lives of African-Americans who have made extraordinary achievements in their fields, with our collection of Black History Groups.
Explore our curated collections of African-American figures, including:
Videos
-
Black History Videos
Watch full episodes of Black History icons, record-breakers and leaders. See how famous figures like Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln and Jackie Robinson changed history. See all videos.
profile name: George Washington Carver profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
Famous Black Inventors
View groupBrowse notable black inventors such as Lonnie G. Johnson, George Washington Carver, Percy Julian.
Famous Black Inventors 13 people in this group
-
Famous Black Scientists
View groupBrowse notable black scientists such as Kelly Miller, Guion S. Bluford, and Julius Axelrod.
Famous Black Scientists 13 people in this group
-
Famous People Who Died in Accidents 92 people in this group

Barack Obama
Black History
African-American Firsts: Athletes
Don Cornelius
I Survived...
I Survived... Beyond and Back
Jamie Foxx
Magic Johnson
Tina Turner
I Survived



