George Washington Carver

Some people think a hero is a super powered buff guy running around in rainbow tights, but I just think it's a regular old honorable civilian. For example, there's my hero, George Washington Carver.

My hero is George Washington Carver because he invented/modified so many things including adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder and wood stain. That's a lot of inventions for just three patents. One was for cosmetics and plants, and the other two were for paints and stains.

George Washington Carver was born in 1864 in Diamond, Missouri on the farm of Moses Carver. He was born at the end of the Civil War. Moses Carver was his adoptive father. Nothing is known of his real father but his mother was kidnapped by Confederate soldiers. His adoptive mother's name is Susan Carver.

George Washington Carver in the lab (pollutionissues.com)

His real first formal education was when he was 18. It was in a non-segregated school all the way in Newton County. He attended Minneapolis High School Kansas. Then he was the first black student at Simpson College in Iowa. They didn't have any classes that he liked so he went to Iowa Agricultural College. In 1897, he was invited by Booker T. Washington to be the director of agriculture at Tuskeege University in Alabama.

The reason George Washington Carver is my hero is because he's had a rough life but has invented and made changes to so many things. He's honorable and smart and one of my dream jobs is to be a botanist. That is why George Washington Carver is my hero.