georgewashingtoncarver


 * George Washington Carver **

George Washington Carver was born in 1864 in Diamond Grove, Missouri. When he was a baby, he and his mother were stolen from the plantation where they were slaves. His mother was sold and shipped away, but Carver was bought back by his master.

He was able to get a high school education and was admitted as the first black student at Simpson College in Iowa. He then attended Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) and got a degree in agricultural science in 1894. Two years later he received a master's degree and became the first African-American to be a teacher there. In 1896, he became the director of the agriculture at Tuskegee.

He is famous for changing southern farming by showing that 300 products could be made from the peanut. By 1938, peanuts had become a $200 million industry and a main product of Alabama. Carver showed that 100 different products could be made from the sweet potato.

Even though Carver invented many things, he only had 3 patents to protect him from someone stealing his work. In 1938, he donated over $30,000 of his life's savings to the George Washington Carver Foundation. He died on January 5, 1943.