10SECRETS.(A)

Born the son of slaves on a Missouri plantation, George Washington Carver grew up fighting racism. Through determination and an unwavering focus, he went on to revolutionize agriculture and become one of the nation's leading scientists.

Carver grew up not knowing his parents. Shortly before he was born in 1864, hisfather was killed in an accident. Confederate slave traders kidnapped his mother when he was just a few weeks old.

Raised by plant

ation owners, Carver developed an early interest in plant life of all types. Tolearn all he could about agriculture, he left the plantation at age 10 and spent the next several years putting himself through school in nearby Neosho, Miss., as well as Minnesota and Kansas.

First To Graduate

Carver became the first black American to graduate from Iowa State University (then called Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanic Arts). "He became passionate about botany and managed the university's greenhouse, where he quietly conducted experiments on plants and taught other students," Henry LouisGates Jr. and Cornel West wrote in "The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Country" (Free Press, 2000).

Though he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in botany and agriculture, Carver was determined to learn more. He earned a master's degree in agricultural chemistry, throwing himself into a regimen that included geometry, zoology and bacteriology.