Ellen Labrecque - George Washington Carver

How many things can be made from peanuts? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Not even close! GeorgeWashington Carver invented more than 300 ways to use peanuts, including making candy,milk, coffee, laundry soap, and hand lotion.

Carver spent his life inventing new uses for many crops.

Who was this great inventor? Carver was a man born into . In addition to peanuts, he also worked withsweet potatoes and pecans. He spent much of his life teaching poor southern farmersnew farming methods that helped them produce more and better crops.

Carver was a deeply religious man and never worked in search of fame or money. Instead,he worked for the joy of teaching and learning He loved the wonders of nature andall the new things that can be made from plants.

It is simply service that measures success, he famously said. He believed helpingothers in life was the most important thing of all. Carver devoted his life and workto doing just that.

Carver believed in hands-on learning for himself and his students.

George Washington Carver was born into slavery in Diamond Grove, Missouri, in 1864.He lived on a farm owned by Susan and Moses Carver. Georges father, Giles, was aslave who lived nearby. He died in an accident before George was born. Thieves stoleGeorge from the Carver farm when he was just weeks old, along with his sister andmother. Moses Carver reclaimed George, but Georges mother and sister were gone forever.

This is Moses Carver, who brought George up after slavery was abolished.

The United States in Car vers day

George Washington Carver was born in the United States during the Civil War. Thewar was fought between the North and the South from 1861 to 1865. One of the reasonsfor the war was slavery. The northern states wanted to free the slaves, but the southernstates did not. At the end of the war, slavery was .

THE PLANT DOCTOR

The Carvers took in George, along with his older brother, Jim. George suffered froman illness called whooping cough throughout his childhood. He was not strong enoughto help with farming. Instead, he filled his days wandering outside and being taughtto read and write by Aunt Sue, as he called Susan Carver. George was a naturalgardener and earned the nickname the Plant Doctor. I wanted to know every strangestone, flower, insect, bird, or beast, he later wrote about his early years.

This photograph shows George with his older brother Jim in the 1870s.

The Quest for an Education

As George got older, he wanted to learn more than Susan Carver could teach him. Thelocal school was for white children only. So, at age 10, he traveled 8 miles (13kilometers) to a nearby town to attend a school for African American children. Helived with a childless black couple, Andrew and Mariah Watkins, and helped them withchores while attending the local school. In two years, George learned everythinghe could from this schools teacher.

Even as a young man, George thirsted for a chance to learn.

Whites only

Jim Crow laws existed in the United States from 1876. The laws made it so white peopleand black people were . They had to go to separate schools, us differentrestrooms, eat at different restaurants, and sit in different places in public transportation.Jim Crow laws finally ended by 1964.

ADVANCED EDUCATION

George moved to Kansas in search of a more advanced education, and he soon graduatedfrom Minneapolis High School in 1885. After high school, George applied by mail andwas accepted to Highland University in Kansas. But when he showed up to begin, anofficial told him harshly, We take Indians here, but no .