george washington carver biography for elementary students

George Washington Carver

Occupation: Scientist and educator
Born: January 1864 in Diamond Grove, Missouri
Died: January 5, 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama
Best known for: Discovering many ways to use the peanut

Growing up George had been known as Carver's George. When he started school he went by George Carver. He later added the W in the middle telling his friends it stood for Washington.
People in the south at the time called peanuts "goobers".
Carver would sometimes take his classes out to the farms and teach farmers directly what they could do to improve their crops.
His nickname later in life was the "Wizard of Tuskegee".
He wrote up a pamphlet called "Help for Hard Times" that instructed farmers on what they could do to improve their crops.
It takes over 500 peanuts to make one 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
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African American Heroes

George Washington Carver

How this scientist nurtured the land—and people’s minds

To George Washington Carver, peanuts were like paintbrushes: They were tools to express his imagination. Carver was a scientist and an inventor who found hundreds of uses for peanuts. He experimented with the legumes to make lotions, flour, soups, dyes, plastics, and gasoline—though not peanut butter!

Carver was born an enslaved person in the 1860s in Missouri . The exact date of his birth is unclear, but some historians believe it was around 1864, just before slavery was abolished in 1865. As a baby, George, his mother, and his sister were kidnapped from the man who enslaved them, Moses Carver. The kidnappers were slave raiders who planned to sell them. Moses Carver found George before he could be sold, but not his mother and sister. George never saw them again.

After slavery was abolished, George was raised by Moses Carver and his wife. He worked on their farm and in their garden, and became curious about plants, soils, and fertilizers. Neighbors called George “the plant doctor” because he knew how to nurse sick plants back to life. When he was about 13, he left to attend school and worked hard to get his education.

In 1894 he became the first Black person to graduate from Iowa State College, where he studied botany and fungal diseases, and later earned a master’s degree in agriculture. In 1896, Booker T. Washington offered him a teaching position at Tuskegee Institute, a college for African Americans.

There, Carver’s research with peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans flourished. He made agricultural advancements to help improve the lives of poor Black farmers like himself. With the help of his mobile classroom, the Jesup Wagon, he brought his lessons to former enslaved farmworkers and used showmanship to educate and entertain people about agriculture.

On January 5, 1943, Carver died after falling down some stairs. But his contributions to the field of agriculture would not be forgotten. Carver became the first Black scientist to be memorialized in a national monument, which was erected near his birthplace in Diamond Grove, Missouri.

George Washington Carver facts for kids

George Washington Carver ( c. 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an African American agricultural scientist and inventor. He taught southern farmers to plant crops other than cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. Apart from his work to improve the lives of farmers, Carver was also a leader in promoting environmentalism . He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP .

Early years

College education, tuskegee institute, rise to fame, life while famous, george washington carver quotes, interesting facts about george washington carver, images for kids.

George Washington Carver was born into slavery in Diamond Grove, Newton County , near Crystal Place, now known as Diamond, Missouri , during the early to mid 1860s. The exact date of his birth is uncertain and was not known to Carver – however, it was before slavery was eliminated in Missouri in January 1865, after the American Civil War . His master, Moses Carver, was a German-American immigrant who had purchased George's parents, Mary and Giles, from William P. McGinnis on October 9, 1855, for $700.

When George was only a week old, he, a sister, and his mother were kidnapped by night raiders from Arkansas . George's brother, James, was rushed to safety from the kidnappers. The kidnappers sold the slaves in Kentucky . Moses Carver hired a Union scout named John Bentley to find them, but Bentley was only able to locate the infant George. Moses made a deal with the raiders for George's return and rewarded Bentley for finding him. After slavery was eliminated, Moses Carver and his wife Susan raised George and his older brother James as their own children. They encouraged George in his schooling, and "Aunt Susan" taught him the basics of reading and writing.

Black people were not allowed to attend the public school in Diamond Grove. George decided to go to a school for black children 10 miles (16 km) south in Neosho . When he reached the town, he found the school closed for the night, so he slept in a nearby barn. The next morning he met a kind woman, Mariah Watkins, from whom he wished to rent a room. When he introduced himself as "Carver's George," as he had done his whole life, she replied that from now on his name was "George Carver." George liked Mariah Watkins, and her words, "You must learn all you can, then go back out into the world and give your learning back to the people," made a great impression on him.

At the age of 13, due to his desire to attend the academy in Fort Scott, Kansas , he relocated to the home of another foster family there. He attended several schools before earning his diploma at Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas .

Carver applied to several colleges before being accepted at Highland University in Highland, Kansas . When he arrived, however, they rejected him because of his race. In August 1886, Carver traveled by wagon from Highland to Eden Township in Ness County, Kansas . He homesteaded a claim near Beeler , where he maintained a small conservatory (a building or room where plants are grown) of plants and flowers and a geological collection. He manually plowed 17 acres (69,000 m 2 ) of the claim, planting rice, corn, Indian corn , and garden produce, as well as various fruit trees, forest trees, and shrubbery. He also earned money by performing odd jobs in town and working as a ranch hand .

In early 1888, Carver obtained a $300 loan at the Bank of Ness City for education, and by June he left the area. In 1890, Carver started studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa . His art teacher, Etta Budd, recognized Carver's talent for painting flowers and plants; she encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in Ames .

When he began there in 1891, he was the first black student at Iowa State. Carver's Bachelor's thesis for a degree in Agriculture was "Plants as Modified by Man," dated 1894. Iowa State University professors Joseph Budd (Etta's father) and Louis Pammel convinced Carver to continue there for his master's degree . Carver did research at the Iowa Experiment Station under Pammel during the next two years. His work at the experiment station in plant pathology and mycology caused Americans to recognize and respect him as a botanist . Carver received his master of science degree in 1896 and taught as the first black faculty member at Iowa State.

In 1896, Booker T. Washington invited Carver to head the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee Institute . Carver taught there for 47 years, developing the department into a strong research center. Carver accomplished much during his time at Tuskegee Institute: He taught methods of crop rotation . He introduced several other cash crops for farmers that would also improve the soil of areas that only grew cotton. He started research into crop products and taught generations of black students farming methods for self-sufficiency.

Carver was as concerned with his students' character development as he was with their intellectual development. He wrote a list of eight virtues for his students to strive toward:

Be clean both inside and out.
Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
Lose, if need be, without squealing.
Win without bragging.
Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
Be too brave to lie.
Be too generous to cheat.
Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

Carver designed a mobile classroom to take education out to farmers. He called it a "Jesup wagon" after the New York financier and philanthropist Morris Ketchum Jesup, who gave Carver money to support the program.

Carver developed ways to improve soils in which the nitrogen was used up by repeated plantings of cotton . Together with other agricultural experts, he urged farmers to put nitrogen back into their soils by practicing organized crop rotation : alternating cotton crops with plantings of sweet potatoes or legumes (such as peanuts , soybeans , and cowpeas ). These crops restore nitrogen to the soil and are good for people to eat. Farmers who rotated their crops benefitted in two ways: their cotton grew better than before and they also had alternative cash crops . To train farmers to successfully rotate and cultivate the new crops, Carver developed an agricultural program for Alabama that was similar to the one at Iowa State.

Carver founded a research laboratory in which he and his assistants worked to make the new crops popular by developing hundreds of uses for them. They did original research and shared the crops' usefulness and recipes that they had collected from others. Carver distributed his information as agricultural bulletins. He wanted as many people as possible to have access to this valuable information.

Carver became one of the most well-known African Americans of his time. His work was known by officials in the national capital before he became a public figure. President Theodore Roosevelt publicly admired his work. In 1916, Carver was made a member of the Royal Society of Arts in England, one of only a handful of Americans at that time to receive this honor. Carver's promotion of peanuts gained him the most notice. The United Peanut Associations of America invited Carver to speak at their 1920 convention . He discussed "The Possibilities of the Peanut" and showed 145 peanut products.

From 1915 to 1923, Carver concentrated on researching and experimenting with new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans, pecans, and other crops, as well as having his assistants research existing uses. This work, and especially his testifying to Congress, made him widely known as a public figure. Carver noticed that U.S. peanut farmers were not making much money because the price of imported peanuts was less than the peanuts grown in the U.S. This caused him to speak before Congress in support of a tariff on imported peanuts, which Congress passed in 1922.

During the last two decades of his life, Carver seemed to enjoy his celebrity status. He was often on the road promoting Tuskegee Institute , peanuts , and racial harmony. Although he only published six agricultural bulletins after 1922, he published articles in peanut industry journals and wrote a newspaper column, "Professor Carver's Advice." Business leaders came to seek his help, and he often responded with free advice. Three American presidents— Theodore Roosevelt , Calvin Coolidge , and Franklin Roosevelt —met with him, and the Crown Prince of Sweden studied with him for three weeks. From 1923 to 1933, Carver toured white Southern colleges for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation .

With his increasing notability, Carver became the subject of biographies and articles. In 1932 it was written that Carver and his peanut products were almost solely responsible for the rise in U.S. peanut production after the boll weevil devastated the American cotton crop beginning about 1892.

From 1935 to 1937, Carver participated in the USDA Disease Survey. Carver had specialized in plant diseases for his master's degree. In 1937, Carver attended two chemurgy (the chemical and industrial use of organic raw materials) conferences during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl , concerned with developing new products from crops. He was invited by Henry Ford to speak at a conference and they developed a close friendship.

Upon returning home one day, Carver took a bad fall down a flight of stairs; he was found unconscious by a maid who took him to a hospital. Carver died January 5, 1943, at the age of 78 from complications resulting from this fall. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee University.

On his grave is written: He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.

Carver's life savings totaled $60,000, all of which he donated to the Carver Museum and to the George Washington Carver Foundation.

The George Washington Carver Museum at Tuskegee Institute was approved in 1938, built, and dedicated in 1941. The Museum held Dr. Carver's large collections of native plants, minerals, birds and vegetables; his products from the peanut, sweet potato and clays; and his many paintings, drawings, and textile art. In December 1947, a fire broke out in the Carver Museum, and much of the collection was damaged. Time magazine reported that all but three of the 48 Carver paintings at the museum were destroyed.

A movement to establish a U.S. national monument to Carver began before his death. Because of World War II , spending that did not help pay for the war had been banned by order of the President. Missouri senator Harry S. Truman sponsored a bill in favor of a monument. The bill was passed and on July 14, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated $30,000 for the George Washington Carver National Monument west-southwest of Diamond, Missouri , the area where Carver had spent time in his childhood. This was the first national monument dedicated to an African American and the first to honor someone other than a president. The 210-acre (0.8 km 2 ) national monument complex includes a bust of Carver, a ¾-mile nature trail, a museum, the 1881 Moses Carver house, and the Carver cemetery. The national monument opened in July 1953.

Carver was featured on U.S. 1948 commemorative stamps. From 1951 to 1954, he was pictured on a commemorative half dollar coin. A second stamp honoring Carver, with a value of 32¢, was issued on February 3, 1998, as part of the Celebrate the Century stamp sheet series.

In 1977, Carver was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans . In 1990, Carver was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame . In 1994, Iowa State University awarded Carver a Doctor of Humane Letters. In 2000, Carver was a charter inductee in the USDA Hall of Heroes as the "Father of Chemurgy." In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed George Washington Carver as one of 100 Greatest African Americans .

In 2005, Carver's research at the Tuskegee Institute was made a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society . On February 15, 2005, an episode of Modern Marvels included scenes from within Iowa State University's Food Sciences Building and about Carver's work.

Two ships, the Liberty ship SS George Washington Carver and the nuclear submarine USS George Washington Carver (SSBN-656), were named in his honor. Many institutions continue to honor George Washington Carver. A garden and statue of him are dedicated in the famous Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis . Dozens of elementary schools and high schools are named after him. National Basketball Association star David Robinson and his wife, Valerie, founded an academy named after Carver; it opened on September 17, 2001, in San Antonio, Texas. The Carver Community Cultural Center, a historic center located in San Antonio, is named for him.

"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."
"Learn to do common things uncommonly well."
"There is no shortcut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation—veneer isn't worth anything."
"It is simply service that measures success."
"Start where you are, with what you have. Make something of it and never be satisfied."
"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour if we will only tune in."
"Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God."
"The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible."

George Washington Carver was famous for his work in Alabama but was born in Missouri .
Carver considered many weeds "nature's vegetables" and would eat sandwiches made with them.
George Washington Carver was the first African American to have a national park named after him.
Carver possessed the hidden talents of a pianist and painter. His art was shown at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago .
He encouraged black farmers to grow peanuts. He developed and promoted many products made from peanuts, but none became successful in stores.
Carver is often mistakenly given the credit for the invention of peanut butter . In fact, he did not do that.
Carver helped Henry Ford make peanut rubber that was to be used for cannons .
Carver believed that peanut oil could help those who suffered from polio , but no scientific evidence proved it.
In 1941, Time magazine named Carver a "Black Leonardo ."
He was widely recognized and praised in the white community for his many achievements and talents.
African-American history
Carver Court , a historic housing development in Chester County, Pennsylvania
George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology , a public high school in Towson, Maryland
List of people on stamps of the United States

The farm house of Moses Carver (built in 1881), near the place where George Carver lived as a youth

At work in his laboratory

"Austin Curtis - Scientist successor to Dr. Carver" , cartoon by C.H. Alston

Painting by Betsy Graves Reyneau

A monument to Carver at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis

1951 Carver-Washington commemorative half dollar

This page was last modified on 6 November 2023, at 08:09. Suggest an edit .

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George Washington Carver

By: History.com Editors

Updated: April 24, 2023 | Original: October 27, 2009

Pioneering African American scientist George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts (though not peanut butter, as is often claimed), sweet potatoes and soybeans. Born into slavery before it was outlawed, Carver left home at a young age to pursue education and would eventually earn a master’s degree in agricultural science from Iowa State University. He would go on to teach and conduct research at Tuskegee University for decades, and soon after his death his childhood home would be named a national monument—the first of its kind to honor a Black American.

Born on a farm near Diamond, Missouri , the exact date of Carver’s birth is unknown, but it’s thought he was born in January or June of 1864.

Nine years prior, Moses Carver, a white farm owner, purchased George Carver’s mother Mary when she was 13 years old. The elder Carver reportedly was against slavery , but needed help with his 240-acre farm.

When Carver was an infant, he, his mother and his sister were kidnapped from the Carver farm by one of the bands of slave raiders that roamed Missouri during the Civil War era. They were resold in Kentucky .

Moses Carver hired a neighbor to retrieve them, but the neighbor only succeeded in finding George, whom he purchased by trading one of Moses’ finest horses. Carver grew up knowing little about his mother or his father, who had died in an accident before he was born.

Moses Carver and his wife Susan raised the young George and his brother James as their own and taught the boys how to read and write.

James gave up his studies and focused on working the fields with Moses. George, however, was a frail and sickly child who could not help with such work; instead, Susan taught him how to cook, mend, embroider, do laundry and garden, as well as how to concoct simple herbal medicines.

At a young age, Carver took a keen interest in plants and experimented with natural pesticides, fungicides and soil conditioners. He became known as the “the plant doctor” to local farmers due to his ability to discern how to improve the health of their gardens, fields and orchards.

At age 11, Carver left the farm to attend an all-Black school in the nearby town of Neosho.

He was taken in by Andrew and Mariah Watkins, a childless Black couple who gave him a roof over his head in exchange for help with household chores. A midwife and nurse, Mariah imparted on Carver her broad knowledge of medicinal herbs and her devout faith.

Disappointed with the education he received at the Neosho school, Carver moved to Kansas about two years later, joining numerous other Blacks who were traveling west.

For the next decade or so, Carver moved from one Midwestern town to another, putting himself through school and surviving off of the domestic skills he learned from his foster mothers.

He graduated from Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas, in 1880 and applied to Highland College in Kansas (today’s Highland Community College ). He was initially accepted at the all-white college but was later rejected when the administration learned he was Black.

In the late 1880s, Carver befriended the Milhollands, a white couple in Winterset, Iowa , who encouraged him to pursue a higher education. Despite his former setback, he enrolled in Simpson College , a Methodist school that admitted all qualified applicants.

Carver initially studied art and piano in hopes of earning a teaching degree, but one of his professors, Etta Budd, was skeptical of a Black man being able to make a living as an artist. After learning of his interests in plants and flowers, Budd encouraged Carver to apply to the Iowa State Agricultural School (now Iowa State University ) to study botany.

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Carver Makes Black History

In 1894, Carver became the first African American to earn a Bachelor of Science degree. Impressed by Carver’s research on the fungal infections of soybean plants, his professors asked him to stay on for graduate studies.

Carver worked with famed mycologist (fungal scientist) L.H. Pammel at the Iowa State Experimental Station, honing his skills in identifying and treating plant diseases.

In 1896, Carver earned his Master of Agriculture degree and immediately received several offers, the most attractive of which came from Booker T. Washington (whose last name George would later add to his own) of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University ) in Alabama .

Washington convinced the university’s trustees to establish an agricultural school, which could only be run by Carver if Tuskegee was to keep its all-Black faculty. Carver accepted the offer and would work at Tuskegee Institute for the rest of his life.

Tuskegee Institute

Carver’s early years at Tuskegee were not without hiccups.

For one, agriculture training was not popular—Southern farmers believed they already knew how to farm and students saw schooling as a means to escape farming. Additionally, many faculty members resented Carver for his high salary and demand to have two dormitory rooms, one for him and one for his plant specimens.

Carver also struggled with the demands of the faculty position he held. He wanted to devote his time to researching agriculture for ways to help out poor Southern farmers, but he was also expected to manage the school’s two farms, teach, ensure the school’s toilets and sanitary facilities worked properly, and sit on multiple committees and councils.

Carver and Washington had a complicated relationship and would butt heads often, in part because Carver wanted little to do with teaching (though he was beloved by his students). Carver would eventually get his way when Washington died in 1915 and was succeeded by Robert Russa Moton, who relieved Carver of his teaching duties except for summer school.

What Did George Washington Carver Invent?

By this time, Carver already had great successes in the laboratory and the community. He taught poor farmers that they could feed hogs acorns instead of commercial feed and enrich croplands with swamp muck instead of fertilizers. But it was his ideas regarding crop rotation that proved to be most valuable.

Through his work on soil chemistry, Carver learned that years of growing cotton had depleted the nutrients from soil, resulting in low yields. But by growing nitrogen-fixing plants like peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, the soil could be restored, allowing yield to increase dramatically when the land was reverted to cotton use a few years later.

To further help farmers, he invented the Jessup wagon, a kind of mobile (horse-drawn) classroom and laboratory used to demonstrate soil chemistry.

Carver: The Peanut Man

Farmers, of course, loved the high yields of cotton they were now getting from Carver’s crop rotation technique. But the method had an unintended consequence: A surplus of peanuts and other non-cotton products.

Carver set to work on finding alternative uses for these products. For example, he invented numerous products from sweet potatoes, including edible products like flour and vinegar and non-food items such as stains, dyes, paints and writing ink.

But Carver’s biggest success came from peanuts.

In all, he developed more than 300 food, industrial and commercial products from peanuts, including milk, Worcestershire sauce, punches, cooking oils, salad oil, paper, cosmetics, soaps and wood stains. He also experimented with peanut-based medicines, such as antiseptics, laxatives and goiter medications.

It should be noted, however, that many of these suggestions or discoveries remained curiosities and did not find widespread applications.

In 1921, Carver appeared before the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on behalf of the peanut industry, which was seeking tariff protection. Though his testimony did not begin well, he described the wide range of products that could be made from peanuts, which not only earned him a standing ovation but also convinced the committee to approve a high protected tariff for the common legume.

He then became known as “The Peanut Man.”

Fame and Legacy

In the last two decades of his life, Carver lived as a minor celebrity but his focus was always on helping people.

He traveled the South to promote racial harmony, and he traveled to India to discuss nutrition in developing nations with Mahatma Gandhi .

Up until the year of his death, he also released bulletins for the public (44 bulletins between 1898 and 1943). Some of the bulletins reported on research findings but many others were more practical in nature and included cultivation information for farmers, science for teachers and recipes for housewives.

In the mid-1930s, when the polio virus raged in America, Carver became convinced that peanuts were the answer. He offered a treatment of peanut oil massages and reported positive results, though no scientific evidence exists that the treatments worked (the benefits patients experienced were likely due to the massage treatment and attentive care rather than the oil).

Carver died on January 5, 1943, at Tuskegee Institute after falling down the stairs of his home. He was 78 years old. Carver was buried next to Booker T. Washington on the Tuskegee Institute grounds.

Soon after, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation for Carver to receive his own monument, an honor previously only granted to presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln .

The George Washington Carver National Monument now stands in Diamond, Missouri. Carver was also posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.”

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”

George Washington Carver; American Chemical Society . George W. Carver (1865? – 1943); The State Historical Society of Missouri . George Washington Carver; Science History Museum . George Washington Carver, The Black History Monthiest Of Them All; NPR . George Washington Carver And The Peanut; American Heritage .

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Elementary George Washington Carver History Lesson for Kids

January 11, 2022 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

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As Black History Month becomes more popular, kids are learning about more and more notable Black Americans in history.

That’s a great thing!

One of my favorite Black Americans to study is George Washington Carver. He’s best known for his scientific work with peanuts, but his early life is truly inspiring.

This elementary George Washington Carver history lesson for kids is a great way to introduce students to this American scientist!

This is a fantastic resource for Black History Month, but it’s an excellent American history lesson for any time of year. Especially if you’re talking about STEM and scientists through the years.

George Washington Carver Lesson for Elementary Students

Read on to see how to get your copy. And check out the digital version too!

Be sure to take a look at our list of 20 children’s books about Black scientists and inventors while you’re here!

Teach elementary students about one of the most accomplished scientists in history with this George Washington Carver history lesson for kids!

George Washington Carver Elementary Black History Lesson

To use this George Washington Carver Black history lesson , you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links are used below. For details, see our Disclosure Policy .)

Printer (with ink)
Printer paper
Colored pencils (optional)

Learning about George Washington Carver with Kids

This elementary Black history resource includes a two-page biography of George’s life and career – both color and blackline versions.

George Washington Carver History Lesson for Elementary

There are also three review and comprehension exercises for students to complete afterwards.

And an answer key is included for each activity!

How to Use This Elementary George Washington Carver History Lesson with Students

When you’re ready to use this resource, there’s a teaching script included to make introducing this topic easier.

Read through the biography with your students.

Pause throughout the reading to check for understanding. At the end, discuss the “What can you learn from George Washington Carver?” question with your class.

Studying George Washington Carver with Elementary Students

If you will be using this as a take-home lesson, print the blackline version and let students color it in.

George Washington Carver Elementary History Lesson

All of the activities’ answers can be found in the biography.

You may wish to complete the “Fill in the Blanks” activity in class and send the word unscramble and timeline activities along as homework.

Elementary George Washington Carver Lesson

Use the answer key for easy grading!

If you complete the fill in the blank activity in class, walk students through the questions and help them find the answers as needed.

Digital Elementary George Washington Carver History Lesson

This history activity is also available in a digital version for use with Google Slides!

The biography is included, as well as all three review activities. Students can simply drag and drop or type in the fields to complete the exercises.

Get a look at this Black history resource in the video below!

Scroll down to get your copy of this George Washington Carver lesson!

Try some of these other ideas for teaching Black history to elementary students!

Try these easy ways to teach black history in early grades to teach your primary students about notable Black Americans!

To get the digital version of this George Washington Carver lesson for elementary students, pick it up from my Teachers Pay Teachers store! You can also get the printable and digital version as a Black history lesson bundle !

George Washington Carver History Lesson for Elementary Students

To get your copy of the printable George Washington Carver Elementary History Lesson, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store or check it out below!

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Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix

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George Washington Carver for Kids: His Life and Discoveries, with 21 Activities

George Washington Carver was a scientist, educator, artist, inventor, and humanitarian. Born into slavery during the Civil War, he later pursued an education and would become the first black graduate from Iowa Agricultural College. Carver then took a teaching position at the Tuskegee Institute, founded by Booker T. Washington. There Carver taught poor Southern farmers how to nourish the soil, conserve resources, and feed their families. He also developed hundreds of new products from the sweet potato, peanut, and other crops, and his discoveries gained him a place in the national spotlight. George Washington Carver for Kids tells the inspiring story of this remarkable American. It includes a time line, resources for further research, and 21 hands-on activities to help better appreciate Carver's genius.

Lessons Associated with this Resource

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Cracking Open the Story of Nuts
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Scientific Biographies

George Washington Carver

Known to many as the Peanut Man, Carver developed new products from underappreciated Southern agricultural crops and taught poor farmers how to improve soil productivity.

In the post–Civil War South, one man made it his mission to use agricultural chemistry and scientific methodology to improve the lives of impoverished farmers.

George Washington Carver (ca. 1864–1943) was born enslaved in Missouri at the time of the Civil War. His exact birth date and year are unknown, and reported dates range between 1860 and 1865. He was orphaned as an infant, and, with the war bringing an end to slavery, he grew up a free child, albeit on the farm of his mother’s former master, Moses Carver. The Carvers raised George and gave him their surname. Early on he developed a keen interest in plants, collecting specimens in the woods on the farm.

George Washington Carver seated (front row, center) on steps at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, with staff, ca. 1902.

At age 11, Carver left home to pursue an education in the nearby town of Neosho. He was taken in by an African American couple, Mariah and Andrew Watkins, for whom he did odd jobs while attending school for the first time. Disappointed in the school in Neosho, Carver eventually left for Kansas, where for several years he supported himself through a variety of occupations and added to his education in a piecemeal fashion.

He eventually earned a high school diploma in his twenties, but he soon found that opportunities to attend college for young black men in Kansas were nonexistent. So in the late 1880s Carver relocated again, this time to Iowa, where he met the Milhollands, a white couple who encouraged him to enroll in college.

Carver briefly attended Simpson College in Indianola, studying music and art. When a teacher there learned of his interest in botany, she encouraged him to transfer to Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University), dissuading him from his original dream of becoming an artist. Carver earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural science from Iowa State in 1894 and a master’s in 1896. While there he demonstrated a talent for identifying and treating plant diseases.

George Washington Carver (second from right) with students in the chemistry laboratory at Tuskegee Institute, ca. 1902.

Around this time Booker T. Washington was looking to establish an agricultural department and research facility at his Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. Washington, the leading black statesman of the day, and two others had founded the institute in 1881 as a new vocational school for African Americans, and the institute had steadily grown.

As Carver was the only African American in the nation with an advanced degree in scientific agriculture, Washington sought him out. Carver joined the faculty of Tuskegee in 1896 and stayed there the rest of his life. He was both a teacher and a prolific researcher, heading up the institute’s Agricultural Experiment Station.

Crop Rotation

Carver’s primary interest was in using chemistry and scientific methodology to improve the lives of impoverished farmers in southeastern Alabama. To that end he conducted soil studies to determine what crops would grow best in the region and found that the local soil was perfect for growing peanuts and sweet potatoes. He also taught farmers about fertilization and crop rotation as methods for increasing soil productivity. The primary crop in the South was cotton, which severely depleted soil nutrients, but by rotating crops—alternating cotton with soil-enriching crops like legumes and sweet potatoes—farmers could ultimately increase their cotton yield for a plot of land. And crop rotation was cheaper than commercial fertilization. But what to do with all the sweet potatoes and peanuts? At the time, not many people ate them, and there weren’t many other uses for these crops.

George Washington Carver standing in a field, probably at Tuskegee, holding a piece of soil, 1906. He wears a suit, flower in his lapel, and a hat.

New Uses for “Undesirable” Crops

Carver went to work to invent new food, industrial, and commercial products—including flour, sugar, vinegar, cosmetic products, paint, and ink—from these “lowly” plants. From peanuts alone he developed hundreds of new products, thus creating a market for this inexpensive, soil-enriching legume. In 1921 Carver famously spoke before the House Ways and Means Committee on behalf of the nascent peanut industry to secure tariff protection and was thereafter known as the Peanut Man.

When he first arrived at Tuskegee in 1896, the peanut was not even a recognized U.S. crop; by 1940 it had become one of the six leading crops in the nation and the second cash crop in the South (after cotton). Both peanuts and sweet potatoes were slowly incorporated into Southern cooking, and today the peanut especially is ubiquitous in the American diet.

Carver also developed traveling schools and other outreach programs to educate farmers. He published popular bulletins, distributed to farmers for free, that reported on his research at the Agricultural Experiment Station and its applications.

Recognition

Through chemistry and conviction Carver revolutionized Southern agriculture and raised the standard of living of his fellow man. In addition to the popular honor of being one of the most recognized names in African American history, Carver received the 1923 Spingarn Medal and was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The George Washington Carver National Monument was the first national monument dedicated to a black American and the first to a nonpresident.

Featured image: George Washington Carver, Tuskegee Institute, 1906. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-J601-302/Frances Benjamin Johnston.

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George Washington Carver

“The Primary idea in all my work was to help the farmer and fill the poor man’s empty dinner pail … My idea is to help the ‘man farthest down’; This is why I have made every process as simple as I could to put it within his reach.”

George W. Carver

George Washington Carver, Born a slave around 1864, became a famous artist, teacher, scientist, and humanitarian. From childhood, he developed a remarkable understanding of the natural world. Carver devoted his life to improving agriculture and the economic conditions of African-Americans in the south.

In 1896, Booker T Washington hired Carver to teach agriculture at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Over a 40-year career, Carver taught many generations of Tuskegee students. He emphasized increasing the independence of local farmers. He believed that a practical education would both make African-Americans and white farmers self-sufficient.

“It has always been the one ideal of my life to be of the greatest good to the greatest number of my people possible and to this end I have been preparing myself for these many years, feeling as I do that this line of education is the key”

Struggle and Triumph: The Legacy of George Washington Carver (NPS Movie 28min)

The Early Years

“Day after day I spent in the woods… to collect my floral beauties… all sorts of vegetation seemed to thrive under my touch until I was styled the plant doctor, and plants from all over the county would be brought to me for treatment”

George Washington Carver

Born as a slave on a small farm in Diamond Grove, Missouri; the best information suggest he was born in 1864, near the end of the civil war. To appreciate nature and to assist his learning, George began a lifelong habit of taking long walks to observe nature and collect specimens.

Religion also played an important role in Carver’s life. It broke down social and racial barriers and was the inspiration for his research and teachings. Yet, he did not allow his beliefs to conflict with his scientific knowledge.

“The Great Creator… permit(s) me to speak to Him through… the animals, mineral and vegetable kingdoms…”

The School Days of G.W. Carver

“If you love it enough, anything will talk to you”

In the 1880s, local white schools did not allow African American students. Therefore, even though he had a great desire for knowledge, carver attended school whenever he could.

In 1890, Carver went to Simpson College Iowa to study art. Although African Americans were not allowed to register eventually Carver was admitted to class and he proved to be a talented artist. He paid for his tuition by doing laundry, cooking, and selling his paintings. Carver switched to agriculture studies because he saw this as a better way to contribute to his people. Carver set out to find practical ways to benefit African American farmers.

That led to enrolling at Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa. His teachers commented that Carver was “a brilliant student and collector.” He worked at the colleges’ experimental station until graduating with a Master of Science degree. He became an expert in field collecting, plant breeding, and plant diseases.

An Artistic Side

“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world”

When young, Carver loved to draw and paint pictures. Originally an art student in college, he switched to agricultural studies. Yet, Carver continued to paint all of his life and one of his paintings won Honorable Mention at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Carver also would crochet, knit, and do needlework. Always practical, this enabled him to produce useful items for his friends. He learned how to dye his own thread and fibers with local trees, plants, and clay.

Carver collected local clays and extracted their pigments to make paints good enough to attract commercial paint companies. These paints were displayed in his laboratory and at county fairs. He used these paints in his artwork. He also developed house paint colors to encourage local farmers to improve the appearance of their homes. He arranged different paints into pleasing combinations for ceiling, cornices, and walls. Many buildings on the Tuskegee campus and throughout the area used these paint combinations.

Teaching Others

“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom”

Booker T. Washington hired the best and brightest African American professionals to Tuskegee Institute. In 1896, he hired a young teaching assistant, George Washington Carver. They both believed a practical education was the best path to self-sufficiency for African Americans. Hired to head its Agriculture Department, Carver taught for 47 years, developing the department into a strong research center.

Carver spread the self-sufficiency message at schools, farms, and county fairs. Carver believed students learned best by doing. He expected students to “figure it out for themselves and to do all the common things uncommonly well.” Carver developed close personal relationships with his students, farmers, and powerful philanthropist with his engaging and charming talks and publications.

Booker T. Washington realized that Carver was a “great teacher, a great lecturer, and a great inspirer of young men and old men.”

Useful Bulletins by G.W. Carver

“In painting, the artist attempt to produce pleasing effects through the proper blending of colors. The. Cook must blend her food in such a manner as to produce dishes which are attractive. Harmony in food is just as important as harmony in colors.”

Carver was a talented and innovative cook. He developed recipes for tasty and nutritious dishes that used local and easily-grown crops. He trained farmers to successfully rotate and cultivate new crops and encouraged better nutrition in the South. Carver developed an agricultural extension program for Alabama that used Tuskegee Institute bulletins. In these bulletins, Carver shared his recipes with farmers and housewives.

During his more than four decades at Tuskegee, Carver published 44 practical bulletins for farmers. His first bulletin in 1898 was on feeding acorns to farm animals. His final bulletin in 1943 was about the peanut. Other individual bulletins dealt with sweet potatoes, cotton, cowpeas, alfalfa, wild plums, tomatoes, ornamental plants, corn, poultry, dairying, hogs, preserving meats in hot weather, and nature study in schools.

His most popular bulletin, How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption , was first published in 1916 and was reprinted many times. Carver’s bulletins were not the first American agricultural bulletins devoted to peanuts, but his bulletins were more popular and widespread than others.

Agricultural School On Wheels

Booker T Washington directed his faculty to “take their teaching into the community”

To take lessons to the community, Carver designed a “movable school.” Students built a wagon named for Morris k Jesup, a New York financier who gave Carver the money to equip and operate the movable school. The first one was a horse-drawn agricultural wagon called a Jesup Wagon. Later, a truck still called a Jesup Wagon carried agricultural exhibits to county fairs and community gatherings.

By 1930, the “Booker T Washington Agricultural School on Wheels” carried a nurse, a home demonstration agent, an agricultural agent, and an architect to share the latest techniques with rural people. Eventually, educational films and lectures were presented at local churches and schools. These vehicles were the foundation of Tuskegee’s extension services.

Research For Practical Applications

“Soil enrichment, natural fertilizer use, and crop rotation” were Carvers message to students and farmers

From 1915 to 1923, Carver developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated planting of cotton. Also, in the early 20th century, the boll weevil destroyed much of the cotton crops, and planters and farm workers suffered. Together with other agricultural experts, he urged farmers to restore nitrogen to their soils by practicing systematic crop rotation: alternating cotton crops with the planting of sweet potatoes, peanuts, or soybeans. These alternative crops restored nitrogen to the soil and were also good for human consumption. Following the crop rotation practice resulted in improved cotton yield and gave farmers alternative cash crops. He also began research into crop products (chemurgy), and taught generations of black students farming techniques for self-sufficiency. In these years, he became one of the most well-known African Americans of his time.

Always looking for practical solutions from his wide-ranging research, Carver experimented with seeds, soils, soil enrichment, and feed grains. All of his efforts were geared to increasing the self-sufficiency of African American farmers. Ahead of his time, Carver used plant hybridization and recycling the use of locally available technology.

Carver’s research also looked to provide a replacement for commercial products, which were generally beyond the budget of the small one-horse farmer. George W. Carver reputedly discovered three hundred uses for peanuts and hundreds more for soybean, pecans, and sweet potatoes. These alternative products included adhesives, axel grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder, and wood stain.

Later Years

“Professor Carvers Advice” – George W Carver’s syndicated newspaper column

During the last two decades of his life, Carver seemed to enjoy his celebrity status. He was often on the road promoting the Tuskegee Institute, peanut, and racial harmony. Although he only published six agricultural bulletins in 1922, he published articles in peanut industry journals and wrote a syndicated newspaper column., “Professor Carver’s Advice.” Business leaders came to seek his help, and he often responded with free advice.

From 1933 to 1935, Carver worked to develop peanut oil massages to treat polio. Ultimately researchers found the massages, not the peanut oil, provided the benefits of maintaining some mobility in paralyzed limbs.

Carver had been frugal in his life, and in his 70s, he established a legacy by creating a museum on his work and the George Washington Carver Foundation at Tuskegee to continue agricultural research. He donated $60,000 in his savings to create the foundation.

G.W. Carver Last Days

Inscribed on Mr. Carver’s tombstone are the words, “He could have added fortune to his fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world”

Upon returning home one day, Carver took a bad fall down a flight of stairs; he was found unconscious by a maid who took him to the hospital. Carver died January 5, 1943, at the age of 78 from complications (anemia) resulting from his fall. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute.

National Recognition and Naming

His work, which began for the sake of the poorest farmers, paved the way for a better life for the entire South and became an inspiration to all.

George Washington Carver was born a slave. Since his owner was Moses Carver and given the first name of George, Carver referred to himself as Carver’s George. This was more a property description than a name. When George left to attend school, he slept in a barn owned by the Watkins family. Of hearing how George referred to himself, Mrs. Watkins told him that was no proper name and declared that henceforth he would be George Carver.

Like the man, Carver High school did not start with that name. The Phoenix Union High School district opted to officially embrace segregation. In 1925, to accommodate African American high school students, a bond issue was passed to erect a new high school building. The new school was named the Phoenix Union Colored High school until 1940 when the school became the Phoenix Colored High School. On January 5, 1943, George Washington Carver Died and a few months later the school took on the name of this distinguished educator, scientist, and innovator. In 1953, educational segregation was ruled unconstitutional in Arizona and the school closed the following year.

Why are so many schools, parks, and other landmarks named in honor of Carver? Carver came to stand as a symbol of the intellectual achievements of African Americans. He brought about a significant advance in agricultural training in an era when agriculture was the largest single occupation of Americans. It is so often said that Carver saved Southern agriculture and helped feed the country. His great desire was simply to serve humanity; and his work, which began for the sake of the poorest black sharecroppers, pave the way for a better life for the entire South and became an inspiration to all.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER NATIONAL MONUMENT

George Washington Carver National Monument orientation video. (NPS Movie 5min)

Our Monument to George Washington Carver

“How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.”

The George Washington Carver statue greeting visitors to the Carver Museum is an exhibit all to itself. The sculpture, Mr. Ed Dwight, is an internationally acclaimed sculptor whose works grace various venues around the United States. Among his works are major African American historic figures.

The Carver Statue was unveiled on February 15, 2004, in a ceremony where Governor Janet Napolitano, among many others, addressed the crowd. The artist, Ed Dwight, spoke movingly before the unveiling. There were musical presentations and acknowledgments of many distinguished guests. Visitors who have viewed and photographed the statue have praised its artistry.

The Carver Statue is an artistic achievement and a worthy monument to its namesake. This exquisite work faithfully captures Carver’s delicate features and somehow reflects the genius and hope that defined the man.

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George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventions & Quotes

George Washington Carver was a prominent American scientist and inventor in the early 1900s. Carver developed hundreds of products using the peanut, sweet potatoes and soybeans. He also was a champion of crop rotation and agricultural education. Born into slavery, today he is an icon of American ingenuity and the transformative potential of education.

Carver was likely born in January or June of 1864. His exact birth date is unknown because he was born a slave on the farm of Moses Carver in Diamond, Missouri. Very little is known about George’s father, who may have been a field hand named Giles who was killed in a farming accident before George was born. George’s mother was named Mary; he had several sisters, and a brother named James.

When George was only a few weeks old, Confederate raiders invaded the farm, kidnapping George, his mother and sister. They were sold in Kentucky, and only George was found by an agent of Moses Carver and returned to Missouri. Carver and his wife, Susan, raised George and James and taught them to read.

James soon gave up the lessons, preferring to work in the fields with his foster father. George was not a strong child and was not able to work in the fields, so Susan taught the boy to help her in the kitchen garden and to make simple herbal medicines. George became fascinated by plants and was soon experimenting with natural pesticides, fungicides and soil conditioners. Local farmers began to call George “the plant doctor,” as he was able to tell them how to improve the health of their garden plants.

At his wife’s insistence, Moses found a school that would accept George as a student. George walked the 10 miles several times a week to attend the School for African American Children in Neosho, Kan. When he was about 13 years old, he left the farm to move to Ft. Scott, Kan., but he later moved to Minneapolis, Kan., to attend high school. He earned much of his tuition by working in the kitchen of a local hotel. He concocted new recipes, which he entered in local baking contests. He graduated from Minneapolis High School in 1880 and set his sights on college.

College years

George first applied to Highland Presbyterian College in Kansas. The college was impressed by George’s application essay and granted him a full scholarship. When he arrived at the school, however, he was turned away — they hadn’t realized he was black. Over the next few years, George worked at a variety of jobs. He homesteaded a farm in Kansas, worked a ranch in New Mexico, and worked for the railroads, always saving money and looking for a college that would accept him.

In 1888, George enrolled as the first black student at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He began studying art and piano, expecting to earn a teaching degree. Carver later said, “The kind of people at Simpson College made me believe I was a human being.” Recognizing the unusual attention to detail in his paintings of plants and flowers his instructor, Etta Budd, encouraged him to apply to Iowa State Agricultural School (now Iowa State University) to study Botany.

At Iowa State, Carver was the first African American student to earn his Bachelor of Science in 1894. His professors were so impressed by his work on the fungal infections common to soybean plants that he was asked to remain as part of the faculty to work on his master’s degree (awarded in 1896). Working as director of the Iowa State Experimental Station, Carver discovered two types of fungi, which were subsequently named for him. Carver also began experiments in crop rotation, using soy plantings to replace nitrogen in depleted soil. Before long, Carver became well known as a leading agricultural scientist.

Tuskegee Institute

In April 1896, Carver received a letter from Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute, one of the first African American colleges in the United States. “I cannot offer you money, position or fame,” read this letter. “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: work – hard work, the task of bringing people from degradation, poverty and waste to full manhood. Your department exists only on paper and your laboratory will have to be in your head.” Washington’s offer was $125.00 per month (a substantial cut from Carver’s Iowa State salary) and the luxury of two rooms for living quarters (most Tuskegee faculty members had just one). It was an offer that George Carver accepted immediately and the place where he worked for the remainder of his life.

Carver was determined to use his knowledge to help poor farmers of the rural South. He began by introducing the idea of crop rotation. In the Tuskegee experimental fields, Carver settled on peanuts because it was a simple crop to grow and had excellent nitrogen fixating properties to improve soil depleted by growing cotton. He took his lessons to former slaves turned sharecroppers by inventing the Jessup Wagon, a horse-drawn classroom and laboratory for demonstrating soil chemistry. Farmers were ecstatic with the large cotton crops resulting from the cotton/peanut rotation, but were less enthusiastic about the huge surplus of peanuts that built up and began to rot in local storehouses.

George Washington Carver working in his laboratory.

Peanut products

Carver heard the complaints and retired to his laboratory for a solid week, during which he developed several new products that could be produced from peanuts. When he introduced these products to the public in a series of simple brochures, the market for peanuts skyrocketed. Today, Carver is credited with saving the agricultural economy of the rural South.

From his work at Tuskegee, Carver developed approximately 300 products made from peanuts; these included: flour, paste, insulation, paper, wall board, wood stains, soap, shaving cream and skin lotion. He experimented with medicines made from peanuts, which included antiseptics, laxatives and a treatment for goiter.

What about peanut butter?

Contrary to popular belief, while Carver developed a version of peanut butter, he did not invent it. The Incas developed a paste made out of ground peanuts as far back as 950 B.C. In the United States, according to the National Peanut Board , Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, of cereal fame, invented a version of peanut butter in 1895.

A St. Louis physician may have developed peanut butter as a protein substitute for people who had poor teeth and couldn't chew meat. Peanut butter was introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904.

Aiding the war effort

During World War I, Carver was asked to assist Henry Ford in producing a peanut-based replacement for rubber. Also during the war, when dyes from Europe became difficult to obtain, he helped the American textile industry by developing more than 30 colors of dye from Alabama soils.

After the War, George added a "W" to his name to honor Booker T. Washington. Carver continued to experiment with peanut products and became interested in sweet potatoes, another nitrogen-fixing crop. Products he invented using sweet potatoes include: wood fillers, more than 73 dyes, rope, breakfast cereal, synthetic silk, shoe polish and molasses. He wrote several brochures on the nutritional value of sweet potatoes and the protein found in peanuts, including recipes he invented for use of his favorite plants. He even went to India to confer with Mahatma Gandhi on nutrition in developing nations.

In 1920, Carver delivered a speech to the new Peanut Growers Association of America. This organization was advocating that Congress pass a tariff law to protect the new American industry from imported crops. As a result of this speech, he testified before Congress in 1921 and the tariff was passed in 1922. In 1923, Carver was named as Speaker for the United States Commission on Interracial Cooperation, a post he held until 1933. In 1935, he was named head of the Division of Plant Mycology and Disease Survey for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. By 1938, largely due to Carver’s influence, peanuts had grown to be a $200-million-per-year crop in the United States and were the chief agricultural product grown in the state of Alabama.

Carver's legacy

Carver died on Jan. 5, 1943. At his death, he left his life savings, more than $60,000, to found the George Washington Carver Institute for Agriculture at Tuskegee. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated funds to erect a monument at Diamond, Missouri, in his honor.

Commemorative postage stamps were issued in 1948 and again in 1998. A George Washington Carver half-dollar coin was minted between 1951 and 1954. There are two U.S. military vessels named in his honor.

There are also numerous scholarships and schools named for him. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Simpson College. Since his exact birth date is unknown, Congress has designated January 5 as George Washington Carver Recognition Day.

Carver only patented three of his inventions. In his words, “It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.”

Carver quotes

"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."

"Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater."

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."

"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."

"Where there is no vision, there is no hope."

"Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the woods before sunrise."

"There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything."

"Learn to do common things uncommonly well; we must always keep in mind that anything that helps fill the dinner pail is valuable."

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How George Washington Carver Went From Enslaved to Educational Pioneer

Carver was born enslaved

No documents survive detailing Carver’s birth, but he was likely born around 1864 or 1865, on the farm of Moses Carver, near Diamond Grove, Missouri. His mother, Mary, was owned by Moses Carver, and his father, who died either before or after George’s birth, was enslaved on a nearby farm.

Shortly after his birth, Mary and George were kidnapped by Confederate raiders who hoped to sell them for profit. Moses attempted to track them down but was only able to locate young George, and he never saw his mother again.

Freed after the end of the Civil War but a sickly youth, George and his brother Jim were raised by Moses and his wife, Susan. The first in a series of couples who recognized and nurtured George’s native abilities and talents, they taught him to read and encouraged his early interest in plants and nature, with Carver working alongside Susan in her garden, and wandering the nearby woods and fields, collecting specimens.

READ MORE: Did George Washington Carver Invent Peanut Butter?

He didn’t begin formal education until he was about 12

Unable to attend the local white people-only elementary school, George left the Carvers farm to pursue his education in Neosho, Missouri, where he lived and worked with a Black couple, Mariah and Andrew Watkins. Carver learned more about plants and herbs from Mariah’s work as a midwife, but he found himself disappointed in the lack of academic rigor in the local Black school.

By the late 1870s, Carver was on the move again. He joined a number of other African-Americans who decided to move west, primarily to Kansas, as part of a mass migration known as the “Exodusters.” He supported himself through odd jobs, before finally graduating from Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas.

When Carver was denied admission to college, he educated himself

Carver received a full scholarship to Kansas’ Highland College, but when he showed up on campus to enroll, school administers refused to admit him — claiming they had been unaware of his race.

Once again, Carver took matters into his own hands. He settled a homesteading claim, where he dedicated his time to assemble an extensive collection of botany and geological specimens.

He eventually made his way to Iowa, where the bright young man once again found support from a local couple, John and Helen Millholland. They encouraged him to enroll in Simpson College, a small school open to all races. Despite his later fame as an agriculturalist, Carver initially studied music and art. (He even showed some of his paintings at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.)

He was the first Black student — and faculty member — at Iowa State University

Carver’s art teacher at Simpson, Etta Budd, helped push him towards his life’s work. Fearing that Carver would struggle to make a living as a Black artist, and knowing of his lifelong love of plants, Budd convinced Carver to switch his course of study to botany and to transfer to Iowa State University (then known as Iowa State Agricultural College).

Carver was accepted as the school’s first Black student and received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences in 1894 when he was around 30 years old. Recognizing his talents, the school asked him to stay on as an instructor while he obtained his master’s degree, which he finished in 1896, becoming the first African-American to earn an advanced degree in the field.

George Washington Carver with students in his laboratory at Tuskegee Institute

Carver spent more than 40 years at Tuskegee

Shortly after obtaining his master’s degree, Carver was lured away from Iowa by Booker T. Washington . Washington was a prominent educator and the founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University ) in Alabama.

The school initially focused on offering vocational training for Black people, and in 1896, Washington pursued Carver to lead its new agricultural department.

Although he originally planned on staying at Tuskegee for just a few years, he remained there for the rest of his career. Despite initially limited funding, he soon created a thriving research institute and became a beloved and inspiring teacher to his students.

Like Washington, Carver advocated for increased educational opportunities for African-Americans, although both men were criticized by other Black leaders, including W.E.B. Du Bois , who preached a more aggressive, confrontational approach to racism and segregation in America, and attacked Washington and Carver for their focus on vocational skills as a means of advancement.

READ MORE: George Washington Carver’s Powerful Circle of Friends

Carver’s 'movable schools' helped save Southern farmers

Carver became a pioneer of emerging agricultural theories like soil conservation and crop rotation, both desperately needed due to an overreliance on growing cotton that left the soil on many southern farms dangerously depleted.

Carver taught agricultural extension programs at Tuskegee and began his decades-long research experiments with alternative crops like sweet potatoes and, most famously, peanuts, developing more than 300 different uses and earning him lasting fame as the “peanut man."

But Carver realized that low literacy rates across the Deep South and a lack of educational opportunities made it difficult to spread his message where it was needed most. He offered night school classes and abbreviated agricultural conferences held during non-harvesting seasons.

Beginning in 1906, Carver helped organize a series of agricultural schools on wheels that traveled around Alabama offering practical, hands-on lessons and information on everything from crop, seed and fertilizer selection to dairy farming, nutrition and the best types of animals to breed in particular regions. These "moveable schools" reached thousands of people each month and were eventually expanded to include sanitation demonstrations and registered nurses who offered medical advice and assistance.

Carver patented very few inventions, preferring to allow others to benefit from his work. His focus on the importance of education remained a lifelong passion. Upon his death in 1943, he bequeathed $60,000 to establish the George Washington Carver Foundation, which provides funding for Black researchers at Tuskegee.

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Biography of George Washington Carver, Discovered 300 Uses for Peanuts

He also found many uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes

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George Washington Carver (January 1, 1864–January 5, 1943) was an agricultural chemist who discovered 300 uses for peanuts as well as hundreds of uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. His work provided a much needed boost to southern farmers who benefited economically from his recipes and improvements to adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder, and wood stain.

Fast Facts: George Washington Carver

Known For : Agricultural chemist who discovered 300 uses for peanuts as well as hundreds of uses for other crops
Also Known As : The Plant Doctor, The Peanut Man
Born : January 1, 1864 in Diamond, Missouri
Parents : Giles and Mary Carver
Died : January 5, 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama
Education : Iowa State University (BA, 1894; MS, 1896)
Published Works : Carver published 44 agricultural bulletins laying out his findings while at the Tuskegee Institute, as well as numerous articles in peanut industry journals and a syndicated newspaper column, "Professor Carver's Advice."
Awards and Honors : The George Washington Carver Monument was established in 1943 west of Diamond, Missouri on the plantation where Carver was born. Carver appeared on U.S. commemorative postal stamps in 1948 and 1998, as well as a commemorative half dollar coin minted between 1951 and 1954, and many schools bear his name, as well as two United States military vessels.
Notable Quote : "No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the way are revealed to me the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without God to draw aside the curtain, I would be helpless. Only alone can I draw close enough to God to discover His secrets."

Carver was born on Jan. 1, 1864 near Diamond Grove, Missouri on the farm of Moses Carver. He was born into difficult and changing times near the end of the Civil War. The infant Carver and his mother were kidnapped by Confederate night-raiders and possibly sent away to Arkansas.

Moses found and reclaimed Carver after the war, but his mother had disappeared forever. The identity of Carver's father remains unknown, although he believed his father was an enslaved man from a neighboring farm. Moses and his wife reared Carver and his brother as their own children. It was on the Moses' farm that Carver first fell in love with nature and collected in earnest all manner of rocks and plants, earning him the nickname "The Plant Doctor."

Carver began his formal education at the age of 12, which required him to leave the home of his adopted parents. Schools were segregated by race at that time and schools for Black students weren't available near Carver's home. He moved to Newton County in southwest Missouri, where he worked as a farmhand and studied in a one-room schoolhouse. He went on to attend Minneapolis High School in Kansas.

College entrance was also a struggle because of racial barriers. At the age of 30, Carver gained acceptance to Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, where he was the first Black student. Carver studied piano and art but the college did not offer science classes. Intent on a science career, he later transferred to Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in 1891, where he gained a Bachelor of Science degree in 1894 and a Master of Science degree in bacterial botany and agriculture in 1896.

Carver became a member of the faculty of the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanics (he was the first Black faculty member at the Iowa college), where he taught classes about soil conservation and chemurgy.

Tuskegee Institute

In 1897, Booker T. Washington , founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, convinced Carver to come south and serve as the school's director of agriculture, where he remained until his death in 1943. At Tuskegee, Carver developed his crop rotation method, which revolutionized southern agriculture. He educated farmers on methods to alternate the soil-depleting cotton crops with soil-enriching crops such as peanuts, peas, soybeans, sweet potato, and pecans.

America's economy was heavily dependent upon agriculture during this era, making Carver's achievements very significant. Decades of growing only cotton and tobacco had depleted the southern region of the United States. The economy of the farming South had also been devastated during the Civil War years and by the fact that the cotton and tobacco plantations could no longer use the stolen labor of enslaved people. Carver convinced southern farmers to follow his suggestions and helped the region to recover.

Carver also worked at developing industrial applications from agricultural crops. During World War I, he found a way to replace the textile dyes formerly imported from Europe. He produced dyes of 500 different shades and was responsible for the invention of a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans. For that, he received three separate patents.

Later Years and Death

After finding fame, Carver toured the nation to promote his findings as well as the importance of agriculture and science in general for the rest of his life. He also wrote a syndicated newspaper column, "Professor Carver's Advice," explaining his inventions and other agricultural topics. In 1940, Carver donated his life savings to establish the Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee for continuing research in agriculture.

Carver died on Jan. 5, 1943, at the age of 78 after falling down the stairs at his home. He was buried next to Booker T. Washington on the Tuskegee Institute grounds.

Carver was widely recognized for his achievements and contributions. He was given an honorary doctorate from Simpson College, named an honorary member of the Royal Society of Arts in London, England, and received the Spingarn Medal given every year by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People . In 1939, he received the Roosevelt medal for restoring southern agriculture.

On July 14, 1943, The George Washington Carver Monument was established west of Diamond, Missouri, on the plantation where Carver was born and lived as a child. President Franklin Roosevelt provided $30,000 for the 210-acre complex, which includes a statue of Carver as well as a nature trail, museum, and cemetery. Additionally, Carver appeared on U.S. commemorative postal stamps in 1948 and 1998, as well as a commemorative half dollar coin minted between 1951 and 1954. Many schools bear his name, as do two United States military vessels.

Carver did not patent or profit from most of his products. He freely gave his discoveries to mankind. His work transformed the South from being a one-crop land of cotton to a region of multi-crop farmlands, with farmers having hundreds of profitable uses for their new crops. Perhaps the best summary of his legacy is the epitaph that appears on his gravesite: "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."

“ Distinguished Alumni | Iowa State University Admissions. ” Admissions , iastate.edu.
“ George Washington Carver. ” Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 17 Apr. 2019.
“ George Washington Carver Publications from the Tuskegee Institute Bulletin, 1911-1943 3482. ” George Washington Carver Publications from the Tuskegee Institute Bulletin, 1911-1943.
“ Learn About the Park. ” National Parks Service , U.S. Department of the Interior.
Kettler, Sara. “ 7 Facts on George Washington Carver. ” Biography.com , A&E Networks Television, 12 Apr. 2016.
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Tuskegee University Archives/Museum

Over the course of his lifetime, Carver rose from slavery to become a renowned educator and research scientist. For over 40 years, he worked endlessly to find practical alternatives to improve the agricultural practices and thus the economic status of African Americans. He is regarded as one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.

Carver was born enslaved in Missouri near the end of the Civil War. From a young age, Carver’s intellectual curiosity was quickly recognized by those around him. By the age of thirteen, he was encouraged to go to Kansas where there were greater educational resources for black students.

George lived briefly in several small towns before settling in Minneapolis, Kansas and enrolled in school there in September 1880. By 1883, George was celebrated as “…one of the most intelligent colored men of this part of the state…” (The Progressive Current, 22 Dec 1883).

Carver was accepted into Highland College in 1885, but his admission was withdrawn when the college discovered he was black. He then found work with a family that was in the process of platting a new town in western Kansas and, in the summer of 1886, relocated to Ness County in search of land to homestead.

From 1886 to 1889 he homesteaded on a quarter section of land where he built a sod house and worked the land. The following spring, George moved onto his land and began clearing it, ultimately taming 17 acres. He planted 800 forest trees, mulberries, plums, and apricots and, in the field, sowed corn, vegetables, and rice. He also built a conservatory that housed 500 plant specimens and a large geological collection.

After several years of drought, he decided not to complete the homesteading process. Carver purchased it outright in December 1889 rather than complete the five-year residency requirement. Carver sold his homestead a year later to Fred Borthwick to fund his education.

In 1890, Carver started studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. His art teacher, Etta Budd, recognized Carver's talent for painting flowers and plants; she encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) in Ames. When he began there in 1891, he was the first black student at Iowa State. He continued his education at Iowa State Agricultural College, earning a Master of Science degree in 1896.

He departed Iowa for a position at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where he worked for 47 years. The Tuskegee Institute was a college established for black students by Booker T. Washington. He taught methods of crop rotation, introduced several alternative cash crops, and taught generations of black students farming techniques for self-sufficiency.

Carver made great strides in developing both agricultural and industrial products. He created 325 uses for peanuts, 108 applications for sweet potatoes and 75 products derived from pecans. Some of the products he created include chili sauce, meat tenderizer, instant coffee, shaving cream, and Worcestershire sauce.

George Washington Carver died on January 5, 1943. That July, Congress authorized the creation of George Washington Carver National Monument to celebrate his life.

Sources and Additional Reading:

Find a Grave. "George Washignton Carver. George Washington Carver (1864-1943) - Find a Grave Memorial
Gart, Jason H. "He Shall Direct Thy Paths: The Early LIfe of George W. Carver" Historic Resource Study. National Park Service. 2014. Microsoft Word - Document2 (nps.gov)
General Land Office Records. Bureau of Land Management. U.S. Department of the Interior. Patent Details - BLM GLO Records
Toogood, Anna Coxe. Historic Resource Study and Administrative History George Washington Carver National Monument. National Park Service. July 1973. 472757 (nps.gov)
"George Washington Carver". Dunn Library Archives & Special Collections . Simpson College. Archived from the original on October 16, 2008.
Report of Minneapolis Public Schools , Minneapolis Messenger (Minneapolis, Kansas), 8 Oct 1880, p. 8. Newspapers.com.
The Progressive Current (Minneapolis, Kansas) 22 Dec 1883, p. 5, col. 4. Newspapers.com.
Highland University , The Kansas Chief (Troy, Kansas), 3 Dec 1885, pg. 3. Newspapers.com.
From Ness County , Kansas Chief (Troy, Kansas) 16 Aug 1886, p. 3. Newspapers.com.
Ness County News (Ness City, Kansas), 31 Mar 1888, p. 5. Newspapers.com.
Friends of Old Days in Kansas Saw Budding Genius of Negro Scientist , Kansas City Times, 9 Sep 1942, p. 16, newspapers.com.
Kansas Marker Honors Famous Negro Scientist , The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kansas) 17 Mar 1956, p. 28. Newspapers.com.
Detour in Scientist’s Life Led Him to a Ness County Sod House , The Salina Journal (Salina, Kansas), 22 May 1960, p. 25. Newspapers.com.

George Washington Carver National Monument , Homestead National Historical Park , Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site

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Embed Video

This 28-minute film explores the life of the George Washington Carver. The film features Altorro Prince Black as the adult George Washington Carver and Tyler Black as the young Carver, narration by Sheryl Lee Ralph, and music by Bobby Horton.

Last updated: February 8, 2023

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver teaches students about this significant inventor, who is best known for his work related to peanuts. Students will learn about Carver’s early life and education. They will also discover facts about his other innovations and why he has left such a lasting impact.

The “Options for Lesson” section on the classroom procedure page provides several suggestions for additional or alternative activities for this lesson. One such suggestion is to plan to hold this lesson on January 5th, Carver Recognition Day. You could provide students with peanut-related snacks and meals, depending on classroom allergies. Another suggestion is to play games that involve peanuts. For older students, you might also want to discuss the issues Carver faced because of his skin color.

Description

Additional information, what our george washington carver lesson plan includes.

Lesson Objectives and Overview: George Washington Carver explores the life of the famous inventor who is most well known for his work related to peanuts. Students will learn who he was and why he is important, as well as some more facts about his life. This lesson is for students in 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade.

Classroom Procedure

Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. The only supplies needed for this lesson are the handouts. To prepare for this lesson ahead of time, you can divide students into their groups for the activity and copy the handouts.

Options for Lesson

Included with this lesson is an “Options for Lesson” section that lists a number of suggestions for activities to add to the lesson or substitutions for the ones already in the lesson. For this lesson, these options include letting students work in pairs for the activity, planning the lesson for January 5th, which is Carver Recognition Day, and planning snacks or meals using peanuts or related products as the main ingredient (depending on classroom allergies). These snacks or meals could include peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cups, brownies with peanuts, and more.

You could also invite parents to a George Washington Carver Day in class or use this lesson during Black History Month (February). You can also plan games using peanuts, like peanut toss, peanut on a spoon race, guess the number of peanuts in a jar, and more. If you’re teaching older students, you can also focus more of your time during this lesson on the discrimination Carver faced during his lifetime due to the color of his skin.

Teacher Notes

The teacher notes page includes a paragraph with additional guidelines and things to think about as you begin to plan your lesson. It reminds teachers that many students may not be familiar with Carver and his legacy. Emphasize that many of his inventions and innovations are still used today. This page also includes lines that you can use to add your own notes as you’re preparing for this lesson.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES

Carver’s early life.

The George Washington Carver lesson plan contains three pages of content. Because of his discoveries, we credit George Washington Carver with saving the agricultural economy of the rural South in the early 1900s. Although he was born into slavery, he became one of the most prominent names in American history and has been an inspiration for many people. We recognize him as a famous scientist, inventor, and educator.

George was born in 1864, but we don’t know the exact birth date because the information about children born to slaves was not recorded. He was born on a farm owned by Moses Carver in Diamond, Missouri, when it was legal for plantation owners to use slaves. Both of his parents were slaves. His father was likely killed in a farming accident before George was born. George lived with his mother, several sisters, and one brother.

Around this time, the Civil War was coming to an end. When George was less than a month old, Confederate raiders kidnapped him, one of his sisters, and his mother. The kidnappers sold them to someone in Kentucky. Luckily, someone who worked for Moses Carver found George and returned him to the Missouri farm. Moses and his wife raised George and his brother. They also taught both boys how to read.

Students will learn that George was not a strong child and was unable to work in the fields like his older brother James. Instead, his foster mother—Susan—taught him how to work in the kitchen garden, tend to plants, and make herbal medicines. The work intrigued him, and he began experimenting with natural pesticides, fungicides, and soil conditioners that help plants grow. The local farmers in the area began to call George “the plant doctor” because of the help he gave them to grow healthier plants.

George Goes to School

George was fortunate to attend a school that would accept him as a student, the School for African American Children in Neosho, Kansas. Later, when he was about 13 years old, he moved to Minneapolis, Kansas, to attend high school. He had to pay for the schooling and earned money by working in the kitchen of a local hotel. He also created award-winning recipes he used at local baking contests. In 1880, he graduated from Minneapolis High School at the age of 16.

George was an excellent student. The Highland Presbyterian College in Kansas was impressed by his application and granted him a full scholarship to the college. Unfortunately, the day he arrived to the college, he was turned away due to his skin color. But he did not give up. For the next few years, George worked a variety of jobs, including running a farm, working on a ranch, and working for railroads. At each position, he saved money and continued looking for a college that would accept him.

Finally, in 1888, George enrolled as the first black student at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. He did well at the school and was happy to be treated as a human being worthy of an education. Carver studied art and piano, but one of his instructors urged him to study botany at what is now Iowa State University. He became the first African-American student to earn his bachelor of science degree in 1894. He later went on to earn a master’s degree and stayed on at the college as a member of the faculty.

Carver’s Work and Inventions

The last page describes the work that influenced and changed agriculture. Carver left Iowa State after Booker T. Washington invited him to continue his work at the Tuskegee Institute, which was one of the first African American Colleges in America. Even though he received half the pay, Carver saw it as an opportunity to help the Southern farmers. He worked here for the remainder of his life.

Cotton was one of the main crops in the South, but its growth each year caused the soil to lose nutrients. The cotton would not grow as well from year to year. Carver discovered that if farmers would rotate their crops. the soil would stay enriched. If they grew cotton one year, they should plant sweet potatoes and soybeans the next year. Farmers became more successful, which also allowed them to expand production.

Next came the peanut plants. A major problem for cotton growers was a certain pest—boll weevils. The insect would feed off the cotton crop. Carver learned that these bugs did not like peanuts. But the farmers worried that they could not earn an income from peanuts. Carver became motivated by the problem and discovered hundreds of new peanut products. These included cooking oil, clothing dyes, plastics, fuel for cars, and—of course—his version of peanut butter.

George Washington Carver—the Farmer’s Friend

Throughout the South, Carver earned another nickname, the farmer’s friend. Chatter about the work he was doing for farmers spread throughout the world. He helped Mahatma Gandhi grow crops throughout India. In addition, he advised President Theodore Roosevelt and the Department of Agriculture on matters related to farming.

Many people think of peanuts when they hear the name George Washington Carver, but his legacy includes much more. Because of Carver’s influence, the peanut industry grew to be a $200-million-dollar-per-year product in the United States in 1938, and it was the main crop in Alabama. The list of Carver’s accomplishments is endless.

Carver died on January 5, 1943. His life savings of $60,000 was used to found the George Washington Carver Institute for Agriculture at Tuskegee. There is also a monument dedicated to him in Diamond, Missouri. In addition, there are many other schools, scholarships, and honors named after Carver. January 5 is celebrated as George Washington Carver Recognition Day.

George Washington Carver had only three of his inventions patented, but he was not upset about it. He once said, “It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.”

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS

The George Washington Carver lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. You can refer to the guide on the classroom procedure page to determine when to hand out each worksheet.

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER ACTIVITY WORKSHEET

As an activity, students will work in groups to answer questions about Carver’s life and inventions. You can have them work alone or with partners instead if you prefer. Students will explain crop rotation using pictures and words. They will also look at a list of products Carver created from various foods and discuss which are the most important and which are their personal favorites.

ORDERING PRACTICE WORKSHEET

For the practice worksheet, students will place important events from Carver’s whole life in order. They will also answer reading comprehension questions that relate to the content pages, which will require some critical thinking.

WRITING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

In the homework assignment, students will first write a thank-you letter to George Washington Carver. They will then read some of his quotes and write what those quotes mean to them.

Worksheet Answer Keys

The end of this lesson plan includes answer keys for the activity worksheet, practice worksheet, and homework assignment. Given the nature of some of these prompts, students’ answers will vary. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.

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Course: big history project > unit 9.

ACTIVITY: The Appetite for Energy
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WATCH: Coal, Steam, and the Industrial Revolution
READ: The Industrial Revolution
WATCH: How Did Change Accelerate?
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READ: George Washington Carver - Graphic Biography

ACTIVITY: Threshold Card — Threshold 8: The Modern Revolution
Quiz: Acceleration

First read: skimming for gist

Second read: understanding content.

What are some challenges that George Washington Carver faced as a young man?
In what ways did cotton have a negative impact on Southern famers?
How did Carver work to improve both the quality of the soil and the quality of life for Black farmers?
In the graphic biography, Carver and the plants he is working with are represented with bright colors and light, while the images get darker as you move away from the central image. Why do you think the artist chose to depict the scene in that way?

Third read: evaluating and corroborating

What does George Washington Carver's story tell you about the economic, social, and environmental impacts of industrialization? Who faced the biggest changes from industrialization?

George Washington Carver - Graphic Biography

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Jim Embry will speak at April 16 at Cornell as part of the Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS) seminar series.

News directly from Cornell's colleges and centers

Activist explores George Washington Carver's work

By matt hayes.

Inventor and scientist George Washington Carver made groundbreaking contributions to agriculture, providing profound insights and valuable approaches for modern sustainability efforts. Recognizing his legacy, the upcoming April 16 seminar titled " George Washington Carver and the Language of Plants: A Vital Pathway to Sustainability " will be led by eco-activist Jim Embry as the keynote speaker.

Embry's presentation, part of the Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems (CROPPS) seminar series, will delve into the practical implications of Carver's work, exploring how his insights can inform and inspire contemporary sustainability initiatives. It will emphasize the intersection of agriculture, sustainability, and social justice. The hybrid seminar is scheduled to take place on April 16 from 2-3 p.m. at the Boyce Thompson Institute auditorium on the Cornell University campus, with the option to register virtually via Zoom .

Embry, founder of the Sustainable Communities Network who regards himself as an agrarian intellectual activist, brings over 65 years of experience as an eco- and social justice activist to our current overlapping and global challenges with a special affection for higher education. Embry, whose collaborative efforts at the local, national and international levels focus on food systems, will offer a critique of conventional notions of sustainability by drawing inspiration from the teachings of George Washington Carver.

Embry's presentation will offer six innovative pathways for building a sustainable future, all rooted in Carver's magnanimous work and vision. Beyond the traditional triad of economics, equity, and environment, Embry will present a transformative perspective on sustainability and emphasize Carver's understanding of the intricate language of plants.

"George Washington Carver's legacy extends far beyond his contributions to agricultural science," Embry said. "His insights into the interdependence of all of the elements of Earth, including plants, offer invaluable lessons for shaping a more just and sustainable world."

Embry, recently honored with the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award for his lifelong dedication to advocating for sustainable living practices and BIPOC justice, is also working with Ohio State University on the George Washington Carver Science Park, as well as Stanford University on their Sustainability Pathways , Black Framer Tool Kit, and Climate Action Planning . He now guides the Systems Transformation Partnership that is especially focused on engaging higher education.

Embry‘s family has deep connections with George Washington Carver that go back to his great grandfathers’ friendship with Carver during the early 1900s. Embry, now regarded as one the prominent researchers of and advocates for Carvers’ legacy, is using his collaboration with and speaking engagements at Tuskegee University, Ohio State University, Yale University, Stanford University and now Cornell University, to encourage U.S. institutions of higher education to find relevance in and see Carver’s legacy as an essential pathway to a sustainable future.

Join CROPPS for this enlightening seminar as we explore the connections between plant science, sustainability, and social justice. Don't miss this unique opportunity to gain new insights and perspectives on building a better future.

The seminar is co-sponsored by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Dean’s Inclusive Excellence Seminar Series.

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COMMENTS

George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was born in slavery but went on to win worldwide respect for his work as a scientist. By finding new ways to process peanuts , soybeans , and sweet potatoes, he helped to make them important crops in the southern United States .
Biography: George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver. Biography. Go here to watch a video about George Washington Carver . George Washington Carver by Arthur Rothstein. Occupation: Scientist and educator. Born: January 1864 in Diamond Grove, Missouri. Died: January 5, 1943 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Best known for: Discovering many ways to use the peanut.
George Washington Carver
Carver was born an enslaved person in the 1860s in Missouri. The exact date of his birth is unclear, but some historians believe it was around 1864, just before slavery was abolished in 1865. As a baby, George, his mother, and his sister were kidnapped from the man who enslaved them, Moses Carver. The kidnappers were slave raiders who planned ...
George Washington Carver Facts for Kids
George Washington Carver (c. 1864 - January 5, 1943) was an African American agricultural scientist and inventor. He taught southern farmers to plant crops other than cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. Apart from his work to improve the lives of farmers, Carver was also a leader in promoting environmentalism.He received numerous honors for his work, including the Spingarn Medal of ...
George Washington Carver
Carver was born enslaved on Moses Carver's farm near Diamond Grove, Missouri, about 1864. When George was a baby, the Carver farm was raided, and he and his mother were kidnapped and taken to Arkansas to be sold. Moses Carver was eventually able to track down George but was unable to find his mother. Frail and sick, George was returned to his ...
George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventor, Scientist, Teacher
George Washington Carver was a Black scientist and inventor famous for his work with the peanut; he invented more than 300 products involving the crop, including dyes, plastics, and gasoline, but ...
George Washington Carver: Facts, Inventions & Quotes
George Washington Carver. Born on a farm near Diamond, Missouri, the exact date of Carver's birth is unknown, but it's thought he was born in January or June of 1864. Nine years prior, Moses ...
Elementary George Washington Carver History Lesson for Kids
This elementary George Washington Carver history lesson for kids is a great way to introduce students to this American scientist! This is a fantastic resource for Black History Month, but it's an excellent American history lesson for any time of year. Especially if you're talking about STEM and scientists through the years.
George Washington Carver for Kids: His Life and Discoveries, with 21
George Washington Carver was a scientist, educator, artist, inventor, and humanitarian. Born into slavery during the Civil War, he later pursued an education and would become the first black graduate from Iowa Agricultural College. Carver then took a teaching position at the Tuskegee Institute, founded by Booker T. Washington.
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver (c. 1864 - January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century. While a professor at Tuskegee Institute, Carver developed techniques to improve types of soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton.
George Washington Carver Lesson for Kids: Biography & Facts
George Washington Carver Lesson for Kids: Biography & Facts. Elizabeth has taught in various capacities for 5 years, at both the elementary level and with secondary students. She has a bachelors ...
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver (ca. 1864-1943) was born enslaved in Missouri at the time of the Civil War. His exact birth date and year are unknown, and reported dates range between 1860 and 1865. ... George Washington Carver with students in the chemistry laboratory at Tuskegee Institute, ca. 1902. Carver stands second from right, facing front ...
George Washington Carver Activity Pack
These worksheets are designed for elementary students and are perfect for first grade and up. They include activities such as a comprehension passage, fill-in-the-blank exercises, George Washington Carver writing prompts, and a Biography Word Search to keep your students engaged and excited about learning. The following worksheets are included.
George Washington Carver : The Carver Museum
George Washington Carver, Born a slave around 1864, became a famous artist, teacher, scientist, and humanitarian. From childhood, he developed a remarkable understanding of the natural world. ... Carver believed students learned best by doing. He expected students to "figure it out for themselves and to do all the common things uncommonly ...
George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventions & Quotes
A George Washington Carver half-dollar coin was minted between 1951 and 1954. There are two U.S. military vessels named in his honor. There are also numerous scholarships and schools named for him.
How George Washington Carver Went From Enslaved to ...
He didn't begin formal education until he was about 12. Unable to attend the local white people-only elementary school, George left the Carvers farm to pursue his education in Neosho, Missouri ...
George Washington Carver, Agricultural Chemist
George Washington Carver (January 1, 1864-January 5, 1943) was an agricultural chemist who discovered 300 uses for peanuts as well as hundreds of uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. His work provided a much needed boost to southern farmers who benefited economically from his recipes and improvements to adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink ...
George Washington Carver
Tuskegee, Macon, Alabama. Date of Death: 5 Jan 1943. Place of Burial: Tuskegee, Macon, Alabama. Cemetery Name: Tuskegee University Campus Cemetery. Over the course of his lifetime, Carver rose from slavery to become a renowned educator and research scientist. For over 40 years, he worked endlessly to find practical alternatives to improve the ...
George Washington Carver, Free PDF Download
Lesson Objectives and Overview: George Washington Carver explores the life of the famous inventor who is most well known for his work related to peanuts. Students will learn who he was and why he is important, as well as some more facts about his life. This lesson is for students in 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade.
George Washington Carver Biography
George Washington Carver. * 1897-1943 Carver taught and performed agricultural experiments in his laboratory. He created the Jesup Agricultural Wagon so he could travel around and perform teaching demonstrations of his experiments for farmers. Carver taught southern farmers to use crop rotation to maintain rich soil for successful planting, and ...
READ: George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver - Graphic Biography. Writer: Molly Sinnott. Artist: Kay Sohini. In the post-Civil War American South, scientist George Washington Carver worked to restore both the land and those who farmed it. Download the Graphic Biography PDF here or click on the image above. Learn for free about math, art, computer programming ...
George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was a world-renowned American botanist who devoted his life's work to helping farmers successfully grow their crops. A lover of nature with a keen intellect and desire to help people better their lives, Carver used his knowledge to make American farms flourish, which helped the nation as a whole. By doing two primary source activities and watching a short video ...
Activist explores George Washington Carver's work
Activist explores George Washington Carver's work. Inventor and scientist George Washington Carver made groundbreaking contributions to agriculture, providing profound insights and valuable approaches for modern sustainability efforts. Recognizing his legacy, the upcoming April 16 seminar titled "George Washington Carver and the Language of ...

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver

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Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix

George Washington Carver for Kids: His Life and Discoveries, with 21 Activities

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George Washington Carver

Crop Rotation

New Uses for “Undesirable” Crops

Recognition

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Theodore William Richards

Alfred Nobel

George Rosenkranz

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The Early Years

The School Days of G.W. Carver

An Artistic Side

Teaching Others

Useful Bulletins by G.W. Carver

Agricultural School On Wheels

Research For Practical Applications

Later Years

G.W. Carver Last Days

National Recognition and Naming

Our Monument to George Washington Carver

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George Washington Carver: Biography, Inventions & Quotes

College years

Tuskegee Institute

Peanut products

What about peanut butter?

Aiding the war effort

Carver's legacy

Carver quotes

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How George Washington Carver Went From Enslaved to Educational Pioneer

Carver was born enslaved

He didn’t begin formal education until he was about 12

When Carver was denied admission to college, he educated himself

He was the first Black student — and faculty member — at Iowa State University

Carver spent more than 40 years at Tuskegee

Carver’s 'movable schools' helped save Southern farmers

Black History

Biography of George Washington Carver, Discovered 300 Uses for Peanuts

Fast Facts: George Washington Carver

Tuskegee Institute

Later Years and Death

Exiting nps.gov

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GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES

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George Washington Carver—the Farmer’s Friend

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