“I owe to Simpson College my real beginning in life.”
George Washington Carver, BA, MS, PhD

slave, freedman, artist, hotel cook, laundryman, farm laborer, teacher, scientist, researcher, experimenter, agriculturist, philanthropist

Born 1861 in Missouri to a slave woman owned by Moses Carver, George Washington Carver was raised by the Carver family after his mother disappeared in a raid. He showed promise as a student and was sent away to school and completed most of his high school requirements. He applied, was accepted but was then refused admission to a university in the Midwest. A few years later he tried again and walked 25 miles to Simpson College and was admitted on registration day. At Simpson he developed his artistic skills as a painter but was encouraged to study botany. He finished his Bachelor of Arts degree at Iowa State Agricultural College.

Over his lifetime, he developed 300 derivative products from peanuts and 118 from sweet potatoes including ink, dyes, plastics, a synthetic rubber and postage stamp glue.