George Washington Carver

1
George Washington Carver

• God gave them to me." he would say about his
  ideas, "How can I sell them to someone else?"

2
Carver as a Young Boy

• Carver was born on a farm in Missouri.
• When Carver was an infant he and his mother were
  kidnapped, she would not be found.
• He grew close to his foster parents Moses and
  Sara Carver.

3
Carver as a Young Boy

• Carver was often sick as a boy and suffered from
  tuberculosis.
• As a result, Carver was not allowed to do
  physical labor.
• To pass the time carver spent many hours with his
  foster mother.

4
Carver as a Young Boy

• Carvers foster mother taught him how to sew,
  paint, and cook.
• When Carver was healthy enough he would spend his
  days in the forest caring for the native plants.
• He became known as the Plant Doctor in his
  small community.

5
Carvers Quest For Education

• He attended school at the local church until he
  was kicked out because he was black.
• At the age of 12 he left home to pursue his
  education in a neighboring town.

6
Carvers Quest for Education

• Carvers quest for education forced him to leave
  home at an early age, he would never again return
  home.
• He attended many different schools sometimes
  finding that he knew as much or more than the
  professor
• Carver graduated from a small high school in
  Kansas.
• After high school Carver was still looking for an
  education.

7
Carvers College Days

• At the age of 30 Carver became the first black
  student to enroll at Simpson College
• Carver became involved in many aspects of college
  life.
• His teachers soon realized his potential, not as
  an artist or pianist but as a botanist
• After only 1 year at Simpson, Carver transferred
  to Iowa Agricultural University (Iowa State)

8
Carvers College Days

• To make ends meet Carver would use the skills his
  mother taught him and wash clothes and cook for
  the other students.
• Carver received his bachelor and masters degree
  from Iowa State
• After receiving his masters degree Carver began
  teaching at Iowa State becoming the first black
  faculty member at Iowa State

9
Carver at Tuskegee

• Carver was offered a job at the Tuskegee
  Institute by Booker T. Washington to head the
  Agricultural Department
• Carver remained at Tuskegee Institute until his
  death in 1943.
• Booker was not only Carvers boss but soon became
  a mentor to Carver

10
Bookers Influence on Carver

• Carver was influenced by Bookers belief in
  education for everyone.
• Bookers effort at Making Education Common was
  very important to Carver.
• Carver became known as one of the great teachers
  of the Institute and developed very close
  relationships with his students.

11
Carver and the Southern Farmer

• Carvers research focused on ways to change the
  south from a one crop region to multiple crop
  rotation.
• He taught the farmers the benefits of crop
  rotation and sustainable agriculture.

12
Carver and the Southern Farmer

• Carver began to give seminars to educate the
  southern farmer.
• He would hold classes during the winter and teach
  farmers how to practice sustainable agriculture.
• He also gave cooking classes for uses of the
  soybean and peanut products he produced.

13
Inventions Credited to Carver

• Carver is only credited with 3 patents.
• Carvers patents were for paints and stains,
  which resulted in ways for Tuskegee to save
  money.
• He saved money by using native clays for paints,
  creating more effective ways to preserve meat,
  and ridding the bunks of bedbugs.

14
Inventions Credited to Carver

• He came up with many industrial and domestic uses
  for agricultural products.
• Despite having sub-par equipment Carver managed
  to produce
• Over 325 different uses of the peanut
• 108 uses of the sweet potato
• 75 uses of the pecans

15
Inventions Credited to Carver

• Among his inventions or creations using peanuts
  and other agricultural products were
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Shampoo
• Cosmetics
• Talcum Powder
• Instant Coffee
• Chili Sauce
• Synthetic Marble
• Synthetic Rubber

16
Carvers Race Relationships

• Carver was an important figure for the black
  community.
• Carver spent much of his free time away from
  Tuskegee Institute traveling the south giving
  seminars and talks at Southern Universities.
• His unusually high pitched voice made an
  immediate impression

17
Carvers Race Relationships

• He had an incredible ability to hold the
  attention of any audience, black or white.
• Yet, Carver suffered the same discrimination that
  most blacks suffered.

18
Carvers Race Relationships

• Carver was unable to ride in the same train cars
  as his white friends, eat in the same
  restaurants.
• Despite all of this he was friends with an equal
  amount of whites as blacks.
• Carver let his education and speeches fight his
  battles.

19
Carvers Race Relationships

• As he got older he found he could not travel as
  much and began to get burned out.
• His trips became shorter and eventually stopped
  but people still sought his advice.

20
Carvers Greatest Achievements

• Carver turned the agriculture of the south from
  cotton dependent to crop rotation.
• Carver made the peanut into an economically
  important crop for the south.
• Using the peanut and his classes Carver was able
  to educate the farmers on a proper diet.

21
Carvers Greatest Achievements

• He was able to transcend the color barrier time
  after time lecturing at white colleges.
• Was a mentor to countless numbers of his young
  students black and white.

22
Carvers Greatest Achievements

• Was awarded the Springarn Medal in 1923
• The Springarn medal is awarded by the NAACP to
  the black person who has made the greatest
  contribution to the advancement of his race
• In 1943 the area around his childhood home became
  a National Monument, it was the first monument
  for an African American.

23
George Washington Carver

• He could have added fortune to fame, but caring
  for neither, he found happiness and honor in
  being helpful to the world."
• Epitaph on Carvers Grave