May 15 – Of Slavery and Peanuts
When I was in elementary school, one of the black heroes I learned about was a man who had discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts and many uses for soybeans and sweet potatoes. He had come from a life of slavery, taught himself to read and managed to become a well-respected scientist.
George Washington Carver was simply George when the Civil War ended and he was a freed slave. The Carver’s, the family that owned his family in slavery, adopted George and his brother and cared for them as sons. When a local school wouldn’t allow George to attend because he was black, he knew of another that would educate him, so he went away to school. Upon introducing himself, he did so as he always had, “I am the Carver’s George.” The headmistress promptly named him George Carver. She also said to him, “"You must learn all you can, then go back out into the world and give your learning back to the people" which made a great impression on the young man.
Carver applied to many colleges, was accepted by one until they met him and realized he was black. He finally ended up in Indianola, Iowa and studied piano and art at Simpson College. His piano teacher saw the beauty of his paintings of flowers and encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College in Ames where he stayed until he received his Master’s Degree. During this time he did outstanding research into plant pathology and received a request from Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute’s founder, Booker T. Washington, to lead the Agricultural Department there. He stayed there for 45 years.
Carver’s desire to teach farming methods to former slaves took him among the people and the farms. He was instrumental in teaching new farming methods that would help return nutrition to the soil after it had been thoroughly depleted by repetitive cotton crops. His approach to crop rotation revolutionized farming in the south.
While in the lab, he worked at developing new and creative uses for things such as the peanut, the sweet potato, the pecan, cowpeas and soybeans. These new uses allowed the various industries to continue to grow, bringing agriculture to a new level of success. The peanut industry had been overrun with peanuts from China and because of his reports and ideas for new uses, tariffs were set into place and local peanut growers were given a chance to increase their crops. A new industry was born.
Carver’s faith was central to his learning and his teaching. He believed that faith in Jesus could destroy barriers, both racial and social. In working with young students, he set forth eight cardinal rules:
When I was in elementary school, one of the black heroes I learned about was a man who had discovered hundreds of uses for peanuts and many uses for soybeans and sweet potatoes. He had come from a life of slavery, taught himself to read and managed to become a well-respected scientist.
George Washington Carver was simply George when the Civil War ended and he was a freed slave. The Carver’s, the family that owned his family in slavery, adopted George and his brother and cared for them as sons. When a local school wouldn’t allow George to attend because he was black, he knew of another that would educate him, so he went away to school. Upon introducing himself, he did so as he always had, “I am the Carver’s George.” The headmistress promptly named him George Carver. She also said to him, “"You must learn all you can, then go back out into the world and give your learning back to the people" which made a great impression on the young man.
Carver applied to many colleges, was accepted by one until they met him and realized he was black. He finally ended up in Indianola, Iowa and studied piano and art at Simpson College. His piano teacher saw the beauty of his paintings of flowers and encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College in Ames where he stayed until he received his Master’s Degree. During this time he did outstanding research into plant pathology and received a request from Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute’s founder, Booker T. Washington, to lead the Agricultural Department there. He stayed there for 45 years.
Carver’s desire to teach farming methods to former slaves took him among the people and the farms. He was instrumental in teaching new farming methods that would help return nutrition to the soil after it had been thoroughly depleted by repetitive cotton crops. His approach to crop rotation revolutionized farming in the south.
While in the lab, he worked at developing new and creative uses for things such as the peanut, the sweet potato, the pecan, cowpeas and soybeans. These new uses allowed the various industries to continue to grow, bringing agriculture to a new level of success. The peanut industry had been overrun with peanuts from China and because of his reports and ideas for new uses, tariffs were set into place and local peanut growers were given a chance to increase their crops. A new industry was born.
Carver’s faith was central to his learning and his teaching. He believed that faith in Jesus could destroy barriers, both racial and social. In working with young students, he set forth eight cardinal rules:
-Be clean both inside and out.
-Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
-Lose, if need be, without squealing.
-Win without bragging.
-Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
-Be too brave to lie.
-Be too generous to cheat.
-Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.
Carver said, “I have made it a rule to go out and sit . . . at four o'clock every morning and ask the good Lord what I am to do that day. Then I go ahead and do it."
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