other boys how make a home.


He was also known for asking “Why?” Consider this quote from Holt: “A huge insatiable question mark had been in his mind ever since he could think at all: ‘I want to know.’ He fed it fuel constantly, and it was never satisfied. But it did repay him with energy; his ‘I want to know,’ followed by its corollary, ‘I can do that,’ was the dynamo that powered his life.”


Moses and Sue Carver did their best to help George satisfy his appetite for learning. In addition to practical skills, Sue Carver (virtually illiterate herself) taught George every word in her copy of Webster’s “blue-back speller,” and George was allowed to attend Sunday School where he began to learn to read. Unlike many black children of his era, George Carver had a real childhood. When he was just a little boy, he was allowed to wander through the woods, where he had a little plant hospital; neighbors and friends would give him ailing plants, and he would take them into the woods and nurse them back to health. George never lost a patient and came to be known as “the plant doctor.” Once he was invited to the home of a neighbor to help some failing rose bushes. That day changed the direction of George Carver’s life forever. After moving the roses from the shade into the sun, George was invited inside. On the walls of that parlor hung several paint- ings—the first George had ever seen. He was mesmer- ized. His “I can do that” spirit kicked in, and from that day forward, he made pictures with whatever he could find. He began by scratching images onto wood with coal and nails, and throughout his life, he drew and painted whenever and wherever he could. Indeed, he seemed unable not to paint. Making art became central to who he was as a human being, and his love for making art provided a counterpoint to his career as a scientist.


Ten Years Old and On His Own: Neosho and “Aunt Mariah”


Carver’s appetite for knowledge drove him (always) toward school. He could not attend the school in Diamond Grove because it was only for white children. (Separatism and racism were sad specters in Carvers life and times, but I believe it is a testament to his character that he would not allow their wounds to deter him from his own sense of right and wrong or from his own drive toward excellence. But I digress.) Jim and George often ran errands for Uncle Moses in the nearby town of Neosho. On one such trip, George saw a school for black children. When he arrived home, he told Moses and Sue what he


58 Winter/Spring 2012 greenwomanmagazine.com


had seen and begged to attend the school. But he needn’t have begged at all. Moses told George that he was free and could follow his heart’s desire.


Tears stood in Moses’ and Sue’s eyes the day they sent 10-year-old George down the road with his little pack of food, his cherished pocket knife, and not much else. George did not even know where he would sleep that night: Nobody in Neosho was expecting him. (Can you imagine? He was just a boy!) But Carver had a knack for finding good people. After spending the first night in a hayloft, he awoke, hungry, and headed for the school.


“George never lost a patient and came to be known as ‘the plant doctor.’ ”


The school had not yet opened when he arrived, and George perched on a woodpile near a neighboring home. That is where Mariah Watkins found him. Mariah and her husband Andy were well-respected members of the local black community, where they attended church and where Mariah worked as a midwife and laundress. (In fact, Mariah delivered both black and white babies and was widely and deeply loved by people of both races.) Again George was treated as a member of the family, and again he learned many fine skills that would serve him throughout his life.


Compared with the Carvers, Mariah and Andy Watkins had a bit higher standard of living. They did not have a lot of money, but they had a beautiful home that they worked hard to maintain. Here, George learned about the comfort and self-respect that a beautiful home can provide. He learned home maintenance skills, such as how to whitewash walls and sand floors, and he polished what he already knew about the importance of order and discipline. Working alongside Aunt Mariah to clean cus- tomer’s clothing, George refined his ironing and laundry skills (often scrubbing clothes with a book propped in front of him).


Aunt Mariah also helped George improve his sewing skills, including fine stitching and embroidery. He always loved working with his hands, and these finer skills inspired him. During this time, he saw a fancy lace collar on a white woman in town. In stolen, private mo- ments, he copied the fine lacework and presented a copy of the collar as a Christmas gift to an astonished Aunt Mariah. Lace-making became Carver’s lifelong hobby; his hands were rarely idle.


Carver also received a spiritual education while


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76