George Washington Carver

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George Washington Carver
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Background Information

• Born Spring 1865
• Diamond Grove, Missouri
• Kidnapped along with his mother and held for
  ransom by night riders.
• His mother died while being held

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Past Occupations

• Educator
• Scientist
• Business Person
• Service Industry Employee
• Medical Worker

• Performing Artist
• Reformer
• Professor

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Basic Timeline

• Learned to read and write at home
• Attended first school at the age of ten at Neosho
  Iowa
• Finished high school in Minneapolis Kansas

• Applied at the Iowa State College of Agriculture
  and Mechanical Arts.
• Applied to Simpson College at Indiana and was
  accepted.

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Basic Timeline (cont.)

• After three years at Simpson he again applied at
  Iowa State and was accepted
• Received Masters degree in 1896

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Slave Background

• Mother (Mary) was purchased by Moses and Susan
  Carver at age thirteen
• Moses and Susan were unconventional slave owners
• Carvers father was not known, but was likely the
  product of an unsolicited sexual contact

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Slave Background (cont.)

• Mary and Carver were kidnapped in early 1865,
  George was returned at the end 1865, however his
  mother was never found.
• Moses and Susan Carver cared for their slaves so
  much, they provided tombstones.
• Loved George as if he was their own son and paid
  for his education.

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Etta Budd

• Father was head of the Iowa State College
  Department of Horticulture.
• She recognized Carvers talents in horticulture
• Convinced Carver to pursue a more practical
  career such as agriculture
• Enrolled in the Iowa State College of Agriculture
  and Mechanic Arts

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Louis Pammel/Joseph Budd

• Recognized Carvers excellence in botany and
  horticulture
• Persuaded him to stay at Iowa and he received his
  Masters degree in 1894
• He then was appointed to the faculty and became
  the first African American faculty member at Iowa
  State.
• 1896 invited Carver to join the faculty Alabamas
  famous Tuskegee Institute

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Booker T. Washington

• 1896 invited Carver to join the faculty Alabamas
  famous Tuskegee Institute
• Booker T. Washington forwarded Carvers pamphlet
  Help for Hard Times

• I cannot offer you money, position or fame. 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 workhard, hard work, the task of
  brining people from derogation, poverty and waste
  of full manhood. Your department exists only on
  paper and your laboratory will have to be in your
  head.
•  

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Inventions

• Products from agriculture
• 325 from peanuts
• 108 from sweet potatoes
• 75 from pecans
• Other applications from agriculture
• Rubber substitute (not birth control)
• Process of producing paint and stains from soy
  beans (his only three patents)

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Synthetic Inventions

• Adhesives Axle GreaseBleach ButtermilkCheese
  Chili SauceCream CreosoteDyesFlour Fuel
  BriquettesInkInstant Coffee Insulating
  BoardLinoleumMayonnaiseMealMeat Tenderizer

• Metal PolishMilk FlakesMucilagePaperRubbing
  OilsSalveSoil ConditionerShampooShoe
  PolishShaving CreamSugarSynthetic
  MarbleSynthetic RubberTalcum PowderVanishing
  CreamWood StainsWood FillerWorcestershire
  Sauce

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Importance of Work

• Instilled in his students that nature is the
  greatest teacher.
• In order to understand the dynamics of
  agriculture one must understand the forces of
  nature.
• Through the years Carvers national and
  international stature grew as the word of his
  findings spread.

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Importance of Work (cont.)

• Received requests for assistance from Chinese and
  Japanese farmers.
• Later received questions from Russia, India,
  Europe and South America.
• Carver is considered one of the greatest
  inventors in world history

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Carvers Mentality

• Viewed his service as that to mankind, and not
  exclusively to anyone or any group.
• On his inventions and ideas, Carver said God
  gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone
  else

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The twilight years

• 1940 gave his life-savings, 33,000 to est. the
  George Washington Carver Foundation at the
  Tuskegee Institute.
• Later gave his entire estate, making the total
  60,000.
• Died on Jan. 5, 1943 (of anemia)
• Buried next to his friend and mentor Booker T.
  Washington

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The Afterlife.

• A national monument was built in his honor in
  Diamond Grove, MO.
• Commemorative postage stamps in 1947 and 1998
• Commemorative fifty cent coin in 1951
• Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
  in 1990.

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The George Washington CarverBallistic Missile
Submarine