George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver, noted scientist and African-American scholar was famed for his transformation of Southern agriculture and his many uses for the humble peanut. At Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, Carver earned his reputation as a leading scientist and his legacy as a noteworthy African-American remains intact. His origins, however, were humble. He was born into slavery near the end of the Civil War along the Missouri border. 

His mother, Mary, was a slave on a prosperous farm on the Diamond Grove prairie and his father, a slave from a neighboring homestead, had died in an accident before his birth. Young George was a young infant when Confederate guerilla forces kidnapped him, his mother, and one sister. All were sold in Arkansas but Moses Carver, owner of Mary and her children, hired a man to find his slaves. Infant George was found and returned to Carver. The child was very ill and would remain frail throughout his childhood. Because of this, young George could not perform heavy chores around the farm or help in the fields.

The Carvers were kind to the orphaned boys and reared them. George spent his free time exploring the prairie and the adjacent forest. He also tended the flowers around the Carver cabin and under his care, Susan Carver's roses, sweet peas, and geraniums flourished. George's knack with plants become well known and neighbors often sent for "Carver's George" to care for plants that were not doing well. Young George also established a secret garden in the forest where he often took sick plants. Through trial and error, he discovered what plants did well in various soils as well as which needed more sunlight than water.

George and his older brother Jim sometimes accompanied Moses Carver when he visited the county seat of Neosho eight miles away. On one trip to town, George saw black children attending school. Until that moment he had not realized that black children could be educated and he vowed he would attend school.