George Washington Carver’s Childhood

George Washington Carver's long journey to worldwide fame began in obscure circumstances. He was born around 1864 on an isolated Missouri farm owned by Moses Carver. Both of his parents were slaves. His father was crushed under the wheels of a lumber cart around the time of George's birth. Before George was a year old, he and his mother, Mary, were abducted by lawless raiders Moses Carver dispatched a Union Army scout to find and return them. The man somehow found George desperately ill with whooping cough, but Mary was never seen again. Moses and Susan Carver took George and his older half-brother, Jim, into their home and raised them as their own. Orphaned, sickly, and newly freed from slavery, George's prospects were dim. From an early age, however, he was drawn to nature, seen as special. He was unusually talented at almost everything he tried to do, and he had a raging curiosity to learn everything he could. He spoke about the time that he would have out in nature and just enjoying the solace, the tranquility, and speaking to the Creator is what he did. And then he took that throughout his lifetime. Throughout his life, he then had this love of nature, which then went into the plant life and went into how he could take plants and break them down chemically and create other products, all for the benefit of helping people. He had what could be called visions. He said, as a very small boy exploring the almost virgin woods of the old Carver place, I had the impression that someone had just been there ahead of me. Things were so orderly, so clean, so harmoniously beautiful. A few years later in this same woods, I was to understand the meaning of this boyish impression because I was practically overwhelmed with a sense of some great presence. Not only had someone been there, someone was there. I knew even then that it was the great spirit of the universe. Never since have I been without this consciousness of God speaking to me through plants, rocks, and every other aspect of his creation. Being here, being in the wooded area when he had free time, where he would learn about how flowers would grow, how trees would grow and was very curious and would explore and would ask a lot of questions from what I understand. And he became known as the plant doctor when he was in the woods here. And I really do believe it influenced him quite a bit. Because George was often sick and frail, his brother Jim helped Moses on the farm. George helped Susan with household chores where he learned to sew, cook, and do laundry and needlework. Moses' influence was seen in George's relentless work ethic, love of music, and his disdain for wastefulness. The paradox is that this young African-American kid grew up in a household dominated by two rather elderly white people. And for a time, he had his brother Jim with him. But beyond his brother Jim, there's no evidence that Carver had much contact with other African-Americans. And to me, that's a very important reality of his life. So he's born in a state that is in great conflict. The conflict ends, but the animosities don't. And he's born into a state that is segregated when it came to education. African-Americans and whites went to separate schools. And that would have, I think, a tremendous effect on Carver. There are multiple instances in Carver's life in which he refers to himself variously as the orphan child of a despised race. And that's always been a very telling phrase for me. I think in that regard, Carver had a lot of tremendous insecurities. Why wouldn't he?