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George Washington Carver was born into slavery some time in early 1864. He lived with his parents, siblings, and master, who didn't believe in slavery, but bough them because he needed help on his farm. When he was a week old, he, his mother, and his sister were kidnapped. When Carver set out to find them, he only found George.
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Soon after this event, slavery was abolished and his former master, Moses Carver, along with his wife, decided to raise George and his older brother James as their own children. They taught them how to read and write, and encouraged them to get an education. He soon went to a school and met a nice lady, who changed his name from "Carver's George" to George Carver. He soon left this school as he didn't like it and headed to a new one in Kansas. In the next decade, he jumped from school to school.
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Carver applied to many colleges, and was finally accepted into one, but was turned away because of his race. He then claimed a piece of land and made a conservatory for a variety of plants. After this, he finally got into a college, and became the first black student at Iowa State University. He studied art and music, but his teacher encouraged him to study botany. He then received a master of science degree and gained respect as a botanist.
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Carver headed the Tuskegee Institute's agricultural department for 47 years and developed and taught methods of crop rotation. He had many complaints about his work place, but all in all, he enjoyed working there. He introduced to farmers new crops they can grow and sell for higher profits as well. After experimenting with various edible crops, he became a celebrity. He worked at Tuskegee for 47 years.
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After discovering a useful and practical way of harvesting large yields of crops with the crop rotation method, it helped him rise to fame. He helped countless farmers earn money and have more food to eat with his life saving technique. He founded laboratories and used them to experiment with crops, the most famous being peanuts. Three American presidents met with him, and he was made a member of the Royal Society of Arts in the U.K. He also helped with desegregation.
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Carver fell down a flight of stairs in his home at the Tuskegee Institute and died in the hospital at age 78. Due to the fact that he saved a lot of money, he accumulated about a million dollars in today's money. It was donated to the museum and foundation named after himself. A bill was proposed and unanimously passed in both houses to create a monument for him. His national monument was the first to be dedicated to someone who was not a president, and the first to dedicate an African American.
