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George Washington Carver was born in 1860 (apx)
in a little town south of Joplin Missouri called Diamond. He was born to a
slave woman on the farm of Amos Carver it was never known for sure who his
father was but he was believed to be slave on a near by farm. During the war
between the States a group of raiders hit the farm, they hung Moses Carver
by his thumbs from an oak tree to make him tell them where he had his money
hid when the become convinced he had no money, they took George and his
Mother, George was later found in Arkansas but his mother was never heard
from again. Moses Carver and his wife raised George and his brother as their
own children, George being a sickly child he was not required to work in the
fields with Moses, but was allowed to work with Mrs. Carver in the house and
gardens where developed a love of plants, as well as cooking and needle
work, as there were no schools in that area that would take black children
they were taught to read and write at home, George loved the outdoors and
the surrounding area he had secrets gardens in the woods where he studied
plants and became quite good at raising them. He become know to the
neighbors as the Plant Doctor as he help them find ways to cure ailing
plants. when he was about 12 he moved to Neosha to attend a Negro school he
never again returned to the Carvers but would always remember the love and
guidance, and influence they had on his life. After getting all the
education he could get in Nesoha he walked to Ft Scott Kansas where the
attend High School supporting him self with odd jobs and living in the back
of a stable and blacksmith shop, after the lynching of a black man in Ft
Scott he mover to Iowa he entered Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. he
showed promise as a painter but his love of plants convincing him to receive
a bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1894. In 1896 he moved to Alabama
where he joined the staff at Tuskegee Institute a school for black students.
He become head of the Agricultural Department and become interested in
finding alternate crops to be grown in the South because of the Boll Weevil
infestation that was wiping out the cotton crops. He developed over 300 uses
for the peanut in food, cosmetics medical and industrial field. He also
worked with sweet potatoes and other crops that grew well in the South. He
was a firm believer in crop rotation and soil conservation and worked to
improve race relation between the races in the South. During his life he
received many awards and spoke before congress many times. He received the
Theodore Roosevelt Medal for his contributions to science, he never married
and left his estate to the Institute to set up a research foundation for
agriculture. In 1951 the George Washington Carver National Monument was
established on Moses Carvers 21 acre farm just out side Diamond Missouri. It
includes a museum that traces his life from that of a slave to a world
renowned scientist and teacher, with walking trails through the woodlands
and tallgrass prairie. There is a statue of him as a small boy sitting on a
rock looking toward the future. The farm house where he grew up is open to
the public. The web site for the park is http://www.nps.gov/gwca/ Jim a lot
lesser known Missouri boy. PS for everyone information Mickey Mouse was also
born in Kansas City, MO
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