George Washington Carver

In His Own Words, Second Edition

Gary R. Kremer

• Publisher: University of Missouri
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780826221391
• eBook ISBN: 9780826273963
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

George Washington Carver (1864-1943) is best known for developing new uses for agricultural crops and teaching methods of soil improvement to southern farmers. This annotated selection of his letters and other writings from the collections at the Tuskegee Institute and the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri, reveals the forces that shaped his creative genius—including the influence of persistent racism. His letters also show us Carver's deep love for his fellow man, whether manifested in his efforts to treat polio victims in the 1930s or in his emotionally charged friendships that lasted a lifetime.
 
With a new chapter on the oral history interviews Dr. Kremer conducted (several years after publication of the first edition) with people who knew Carver personally, and the addition of newly uncovered documents and a bank of impressive photographs of Carver and some of his friends, this second edition of our classic title commemorates the 75th anniversary of Carver's death on January 5, 2018.
 

NINE

Carver and His Boys

Dear, you know me well enough now to know that I am sincere when I say I love you, you know why I love you, because you are exceptional boys with an exceptional future ahead of you, long after I have passed on you must work.

Geo. W. Carver 21 November 1930

EARLY IN THE 1920s, members of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation and the YMCA, looking for vehicles by which to ease racial tensions in the South, identified George Washington Carver as someone who could bridge the gap between blacks and whites. The small-school professor suddenly found himself being invited to appear before groups of white youths, believed by CIC and YMCA officials to be the most educable and malleable.

Everywhere that Carver went he captivated his young audiences. Often, he would look out over a group before him and search for a face and eyes that he thought bespoke intense sincerity and spirituality. The eyes were critical, as he explained to a group on one occasion: “You can tell the people who acknowledge God and love men by their eyes. I have seen eyes that could take my breath away . . . . Eyes of Christian souls are beautiful. They send out love, joy, peace. Their light stands out within a group. I can always pick them out.”¹

Carver began to develop warm relationships with many of those youngsters whom he had “picked out.” Gradually, he came to identify and refer to those young men in whom he saw great promise collectively as “my boys” They became the bachelor Carver’s second surrogate family, in addition to his Tuskegee “children,” and he showered them with affection, nurturing them through the crises of growing up and counseling them on career decisions. They wrote to him, addressing him as “Dad Carver,” “Dear Father,” “Daddy,” and “My Only Dad” One young man expressed a sentiment that each of Carver’s “boys” must have felt:

After spending three of the greatest days of my life with you, indeed it seemed much like a dream to me that such a man as you really lived. . . . I wish that it was possible for me to tell you in words what you mean to me. From the inspiration that you give to me through your love and confidence, somehow I reach to higher heights than I had ever thought of. . . .²

One of the first of the young people to become a Carver admirer and member of his informal family was Jimmie Hardwick, a Virginian who had been well-steeped in the tradition of white superiority. Only Carver’s transparent spirituality had allowed Hardwick first to accept the older man and, ultimately, to venerate him. This early letter to Hardwick is one of the most poignant.

10-29-23³

My precious friend Mr. Hardwick:

Your wonderful letter has just reached me. It is evening and I am alone for a few minutes, and I always feel that I must answer your letters right away.

This letter reveals another side of your life. You are now in the midst of a great struggle. You are fighting for freedom, you will win, God is on your side. Continue to follow him, wherever he leads follow. Whenever He says stay away from church or anything else for a while, do so. He will however not permit you to stay away from church very long at a time lest the effect would be bad, people would not understand you and think you were growing cold and indifferent, so therefore you will not get His approval.

My friend I love you for what you are and what you hope to be through Christ Jesus. I am by no means as good as you give me credit for being.

There are times when I am surely tried and am compelled to hide away with Jesus for strength to overcome. God alone knows what I have suffered, in trying to do as best I could the job He has given me in trust to do, most of the time I had to work without the sympathy or support of those with whom I associated. Many are the strange paths God led me into. He is and will lead you likewise.

God has so willed it that there were always a few good friends to encourage and strengthen me when the burden seemed greater than I could bear. God gave you to me for courage, strength, and to deepen and indelebly confirm my faith in humanity, And oh how I thank Him for you, you came to me when I needed you most.

I know the fetters that hold you down. It is now, the beginning of a new era for you.

Do not get discouraged when you do not seem to accomplish all you wish, sow the seed. . . .

One of the most revealing things about the letters written by Carver to his boys is the obvious reciprocity of the relationships. That the young men needed and treasured Carver’s friendship is obvious; but Carver’s dependence on these youths is no less clear.

4-5-24⁴

My beloved friend, Mr. Hardwick-

Your letter touches me deeply, how I wish I was worthy through Christ of all the nice things you say about me.

I can never be to you what you are to me. I love you all the more dearly because you belong to another race, and because God is speaking through you and using you to teach to all the world the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and how sweet it is to let God purge our souls of all ego and littleness, and give us a little taste of heaven while here on earth. What a privilege to be in league with the great teacher.

Your visit here lingers with me as a sweet “Savor”, because as I said before I saw more clearly what God has in store for you.

I studied you so closely when you were here and it made me very, very happy that I had the privilege of knowing you and being able to call you a true friend, in Christ. Divine love will one day conquer the world; you are to figure very prominently in this conquest.

I trust you will pray for me that I may get rid of all my littleness.

I have just as much to fight as you have but of course not the same things.

The “Love of Christ” is sufficient to transform both of us into what He would have us be.

I love you because you are my ideal type of man. And one that I can confide in at all times.

You are right altogether people are too selfish and self centered to let Christ do much for them. I do feel however that God in His own way is working out the problem through such disciples as yourself.

More and more I feel that you are going to enjoy life more fully, because Christ will have a “larger fullness” in your heart.

The books you have chosen please me greatly. You are certainly moving along the right lines now, couple this with constant observation and little by little as God gives you light you will become a new man.

If you wish to box or to go to boxing bouts I think it is all right, bearing in mind two things from Paul. If by the eating of meat etc. and I am all things to all men etc. God meant that we should play and have a real good time and enjoy the things He has so wonderfully created, and through which He speaks to us every moment if we so desire.

I am looking forward to the time with pleasure when I shall see you at Blue Ridge and have the privilege I hope of a walk so that Christ may speak to us both through the wonderful flora and fauna of that section.

I fear however that we will have very little time to be together, as we will both be very busy.

I am sure they will draw more heavily upon my time, that is what I have been informed already. However we must find some time. I can see more progress in you all of the time continue to let Christ lead, you simply work and follow where He leads, and “day by day in every way” the pastures will become greener.

My friend I am very sure your own brother does not love you any better than I do. I did not have to learn to love you. I did this the first time I saw you, before you ever spoke to me.

It was the Christ in you of course. I can feel your love also; it cheers, helps, and strengthens me in many ways in my work. I never begin a new project but what I think of you in connection with it.

May God keep, guid and prosper you in every way, to His glory.

Is the wish of your sincere friend

Geo. W. Carver

“Postcript”⁵

The clock is striking 10 P.M. Just from chapel, but I must write you this.

Rejoice, my friend rejoice, God is doing a wonderful work for you. He is leading you into paths you know not of.

I heard such a wonderful lecture tonight from a Mr. Fields, a Y. worker in Peru.

I thought about my beloved friend Mr. Hardwick who is some time in God’s own time to do some marvelous work in His name. Some way I feel so happy that I know you, and can talk frankly to you as I do and that you do not consider my letters silly, and foolish as they sound to me. God knows I am honest in what I say to you. I will tell you more of the vision that I believe God has given me for you when I see you again.

I am so glad I can have you as my confidential friend. I tell you and write you and talk to you as I do no one else.

Others would misunderstand me, but I think you understand me thoroughly.

Good night. May God continue to bless and keep you.

By the late 1920s, Carver’s speaking engagements were taking him all over the South. His busy schedule, and Hardwick’s own YMCA work, put the two men temporarily out of touch. But in January 1927, Hardwick reestablished contact. He received this warm report on Carver’s travels.

Jan. 30-27⁶

My dear friend Mr. Hardwick :-

What a pleasant surprise it was to me yesterday when I received your fine letter. Of course I have thought of you every day, but never expected to hear from you directly again.

Some one told me that you were in my school as “Y.” Secy. I certainly was happy that you were directed by the Great Spirit to go out there.

I have missed your letters so much and your fellowship and it is indeed refreshing to hear from you. I had a wonderful trip through Va. my first talk was made at Petersburg, made two in Richmond one at Stanton, one at Lexington, at Washington and Lee, two in Lynchbu...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments, First Edition
• Acknowledgments, Second Editon
• Editorial Policy
• Chronology
• One. Introduction: Carver—the Man and the Myth
• Two. Self-Portraits: Carver’s Self-Image over Time
• Three. The Pre-Tuskegee Years: Old Friends Remembered
• Four. Tuskegee Institute: Carver and His Coworkers
• Five. The Teacher as Motivator: Carver and His Students
• Six. The Scientist as Servant: “Helping the Man Farthest Down”
• Gallery
• Seven. The Scientist as Mystic: “Reading God out of Nature’s Great Book”
• Eight. Carver: Black Man in White America
• Nine. Carver and His Boys
• Ten. Remembering George Washington Carver: An Intimate Portrait
• Notes
• Index