Carver, George Washington (1864-1943)

CARVER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/16/2021 at 22:10:59

George Washington Carver
(Jan 1, 1864 - Jan 5, 1943)
"The plant doctor"

The world reknown man, George Washington Carver, spent 1889 - 1896 in Iowa, living in Winterset for two years, Indianola for two years, and Ames for four. While in Indianola he attended Simpson College. A twenty-seven page booklet, George Washington Carver in Indianola: A Tour Guide, by Ed Carty, 1990 (shown below) provides a chronology of his life with photos of him at Simpson and his return to the College in 1941 to present the baccaluareate to the graduating class.
At age 26, September 1890, George walked 27 miles from Winterset to Indianola to enroll at Simpson College. Enrollment fee was $12.00 which left him 10 cents to his name. He spent the 10 cents for suet and cornmeal from which to live until he made money doing laundry for income. His ingenious mind enabled him to do well at Simpson and with his acceptance there he later said, "It was at Simpson, I first realized I was a human being."
When George was born he was a slave to an owner named Moses Carver. George and his mother, Mary, were kidnapped and taken from Missouri to Arkansas. George was recaptured and brought back to the home of Moses Carver. After gaining freedom, George stayed at the Carver house to be tutored at school in Diamond, Missouri. About age 11 he left the Carver home and went to Neosho, MO to continue his education. From Missouri to Kansas to Iowa, George Washington Carver studied and received a Master's Degree at Iowa State University. From there he went to Tuskegee, Alabama where he taught at the University of Tuskegee for the rest of his life.
To help southern black farmers who were raising cotton, Dr. Carver taught crop rotation with peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes to restore soil nutrients. Carver is know for his developments of hundreds of products derived from peanuts, and sweet potatoes. As a chemist he also made many other dicoveries including: dyes, stains, paints, hand cleaners, lubricating oils, nitroglycerine, and well as medicinal remedies like castor oil, laxatives, and an emulsion for bronchitis.
Dr. Carver had the brain of a scientist and the heart of a saint. In 1941 at age 77, his baccalaureate address at Simpson expressed his close relationship with God. In his faith he told how he conversed hourly with God throughout his life and how the accomplishments that he'd made in his life were all credited to God and His blessings.

From Simpson College 1931 Zenith Yearbook
The following men and women have been selected as typical of the outstanding recognition achieved by alumni of Simpson College in representative fields of endeavor:
SCIENCE - Dr. George W. Carver (January 1, 1864 - January 5, 1943)
George Washington Carver, director of agrarian research at Tuskeegee Institute; elected member of Royal Society of Arts, London, 1917; awarded Spingarn Medal in 1923 for greatest achievement of that year by an American negro; took post graduate work at Iowa State College, later being elected to the faculty of Iowa State, with supervision of botanical experiments, teacher at Tuskeegee since 1896; has done outstanding work in botanical chemistry; made Doctor of Science by Simpson College, 1928; student at Simpson, 1890-1893. [Read his biography on Encyclopedia Britannica]

George Washington Carver "The Plant Doctor"
 

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