Carver was born of slave parents on a farm near Diamond Grove, Missouri. During the bloody struggle between free-soilers and slaveholders, George Washington Carver, with his mother and brother, became the kidnap victim of night riders and were sold as slaves in Arkansas. Before they could be rescued his mother died.

His first owner Moses Carver, a German farmer, ransomed the children for a $300 racehorse, secured their return and gave them his last name. Merely a babe in arms and orphaned, George Carver was left in the custody of a white guardian from early childhood.

George had responsibility for his own education. His first school was in Neosho, Iowa, some 9 miles from his home. Neosho had once been a Confederate capital; by now it had become the site of the Lincoln School for African American children. With James he walked there every day. His first teacher was an African American, Stephen S. Frost.

He and his brother went faithfully to school for several years. Finally James tired of formal schooling and quit to become a house painter, but not George. He continued until he was 17. Then he went on to complete his high school work in Minneapolis, Kansas. It is known that George coveted female roles in amateur high school and college theatrical productions.

Carver applied to study at the Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts but was turned down when it was learned that he was of African heritage. He then applied to Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa, where he was the second African American to be admitted. Tuition was $12 a year, but even this small amount was hard to come by. Carver raised the money by working as a cook at a hotel in Winterset, Iowa. He received a B.S. in 1894 followed by an M.S. in 1896 in Agricultural Science, from Iowa Agricultural College.

As his friend and art teacher, Etta Budd took Carver aside one day and urged him to study something besides art. Etta told him he could never support himself or a family with his artwork. Instead of painting plants, she encouraged him to study them. She offered to go with him to Iowa State where her father was a professor. After thinking about it, Carver agreed to enroll at Iowa State.

Some time later, Etta visited George Washington Carver at Ames. There she discovered something that made her very unhappy. Because Carver was black he had to eat his meals in the kitchen rather than the dining hall with the other students. This was unacceptable to Etta. She brought him into the dining hall where the white students took their meals. There she ate with him until the other students accepted him.

At Iowa State Carver was a brilliant biology student. He even took graduate work and upon graduation, was offered a teaching position. He was the first black teacher that Iowa State had ever hired. Later he rose to be director of Agricultural Research. At the height of his career, George lived an open gay lifestyle for several years.

Carver is best known for his work with the peanut for which he developed 325 products (he is the inventor of peanut butter), 108 applications for sweet potatoes, and 75 products derived from pecans.