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George Washington Carver Essay

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George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was born in Diamond Grove, Missouri during the spring of 1864 or 1865. Like many slaves, he was uncertain of his birth date. His mother, Mary, was a slave who belonged to Moses and Susan Carver. As an infant, slave raiders kidnapped his mother. The childless carvers reared George and his older brother, James.

Growing up, George was captivated by plants. Many neighbors referred to him as the “Plant Doctor”. Since Carver was an African American, he was not accepted at any local schools, therefore he had to attend school eight miles away from home. He did very well in school. In 1885 he was accepted to Highland College in Kansas. However, race became an issue again and they took away the …show more content…

As well as creating the Farmers’ Institute, Carver also helped the farmers of Alabama and the southern states a great deal. An insect called the boll weevil became an enormous threat to the cotton fields of southern United States. Carver recommended to these farmers that they should substitute their cotton crops with sweet potatoes and, the more successful recommendation, peanuts. This switch would provide farmers another source of income and would also help to prevent the spread of the insect. The one problem with this solution was that no one knew what to do with all the peanut crops. Carver was quoted as saying: “we can learn to synthesize materials for every human need from the things that grow.” So that is what he did. In total, Carver was able to create close to three hundred different products from the peanut plant. These wide variety of products include dyes, ink, insulation, cosmetics, stock feed, medicines, glue, soap, and peanut milk. Although most of his products never became commercially sold, Carver became widely known as the “Peanut Man”. He also created nearly one hundred uses for the sweet potato crops.

Even though George Washington Carver was well known throughout parts of the south, his real rise to fame started in 1916. Carver was invited to join the Royal Society for the Arts. Shortly afterward, the Carver Products Company was founded to market his many products. Carver was also honored with the medal of the National

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