George Washington Carver: Bigger than peanuts
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Date: 2020-07-14
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Comments and reviews: 9
Erik
I found the use of the word stolen here kind of upsetting. I thought about why, and I think my gut reaction to it is because the choice of word implicitly puts primacy on Carver's family's legal status as property, while diminishing the violence they would have experienced. I am 100% sure that it wasn't your intention to endorse that view but later you're so careful about navigating the waters of language that I thought it worth bringing up.
Carver and his family were violently kidnapped and then sold, in a miniature recapitulation of the acts which brought their family to this country in the first place, and which is an act that can only occur the way it did because of slavery. Their legal status meant that they were always less safe than even the most poverty stricken white person, regardless of the conditions of their treatment, a startling fact whose full implications it feels like the word stolen hides us from having to face.
Perhaps I'm wrong on this point - I am certainly as ignorant as your average mid 30s white guy on this one, and certainly the word stolen helps to remind us of how the law considered them but it didn't pass the gut check for me.
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I found the use of the word stolen here kind of upsetting. I thought about why, and I think my gut reaction to it is because the choice of word implicitly puts primacy on Carver's family's legal status as property, while diminishing the violence they would have experienced. I am 100% sure that it wasn't your intention to endorse that view but later you're so careful about navigating the waters of language that I thought it worth bringing up.
Carver and his family were violently kidnapped and then sold, in a miniature recapitulation of the acts which brought their family to this country in the first place, and which is an act that can only occur the way it did because of slavery. Their legal status meant that they were always less safe than even the most poverty stricken white person, regardless of the conditions of their treatment, a startling fact whose full implications it feels like the word stolen hides us from having to face.
Perhaps I'm wrong on this point - I am certainly as ignorant as your average mid 30s white guy on this one, and certainly the word stolen helps to remind us of how the law considered them but it didn't pass the gut check for me.
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K9TheFirst1
7: 50 - Yeah, I never heard of Watermelon = Racial Slur until I was in my 20s, and I've lived in Tennessee my whole life. The theory I've heard is that blacks fleeing the Jim Crow South - which was implemented by Democrats by the way - and they brought their culture with them, and culture includes food. And wouldn't you know it, in poor rural south - which includes every race that lives there - the most common meal was fried chicken and watermelon. Because fried chicken was cheap and hearty, and watermelon, as the Doctor says, grows well, is cheap, and holds a lot of water, which is perfect for the Sub-Tropical climate of the south. Meanwhile, in the north this was rarer in comparison, so these White, allegedly 'Morally Superior Liberators of the Slaves' saw them eating a whole lot of watermelon and fried chicken and just assumed it was what Black People ate.
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7: 50 - Yeah, I never heard of Watermelon = Racial Slur until I was in my 20s, and I've lived in Tennessee my whole life. The theory I've heard is that blacks fleeing the Jim Crow South - which was implemented by Democrats by the way - and they brought their culture with them, and culture includes food. And wouldn't you know it, in poor rural south - which includes every race that lives there - the most common meal was fried chicken and watermelon. Because fried chicken was cheap and hearty, and watermelon, as the Doctor says, grows well, is cheap, and holds a lot of water, which is perfect for the Sub-Tropical climate of the south. Meanwhile, in the north this was rarer in comparison, so these White, allegedly 'Morally Superior Liberators of the Slaves' saw them eating a whole lot of watermelon and fried chicken and just assumed it was what Black People ate.
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ThePurpleclone
I remember reading Jimmy Carter's book about his own childhood and him talking about why his family switched to peanuts. I'm not sure how correct the anecdote is, but he claimed that George Washington Carver traveled throughout the South giving community oriented lessons about peanuts and other crops. He would do this for free, as a service to the people in those communities he visited. If that is true, I would rank that dedicated act of education up there in his greatest achievements, especially considering that many recently freed black people were illiterate, and could not read his published literature on the topics he taught about.
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I remember reading Jimmy Carter's book about his own childhood and him talking about why his family switched to peanuts. I'm not sure how correct the anecdote is, but he claimed that George Washington Carver traveled throughout the South giving community oriented lessons about peanuts and other crops. He would do this for free, as a service to the people in those communities he visited. If that is true, I would rank that dedicated act of education up there in his greatest achievements, especially considering that many recently freed black people were illiterate, and could not read his published literature on the topics he taught about.
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Evil
This is a bunch of racist one sided crap, you clearly state tuskegee leveraged carver for their own benefit just as much as Whites did, you blanket statement only whites used him in history without any proof or evidence, as if the black community doesn't also leverage his successful life as an example of a good role model and ecological advocate. Why does he have to be a racial figurehead anyways? He obviously had no interest in it and had his own agenda as clearly discussed, but you make it sound like the only thing people should have done in the past 500 years is picket the local mayors office.
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This is a bunch of racist one sided crap, you clearly state tuskegee leveraged carver for their own benefit just as much as Whites did, you blanket statement only whites used him in history without any proof or evidence, as if the black community doesn't also leverage his successful life as an example of a good role model and ecological advocate. Why does he have to be a racial figurehead anyways? He obviously had no interest in it and had his own agenda as clearly discussed, but you make it sound like the only thing people should have done in the past 500 years is picket the local mayors office.
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олен
It might be good to note that Carver's leader, Booker T. Washington, was also part of the more accomodationist group when it came to civil rights, as well as being more for self-help. This is opposed to W. E. B Dubois, with Washington advocating for gaining freedom through gaining the respect of whites, while Dubois advocated more active political efforts including helping the founding of the NAACP. This in part explains why Carver was so hesitant to rock the boat and other things about his reaction, considering the goals and motives of Washington's philosophy on black liberation.
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It might be good to note that Carver's leader, Booker T. Washington, was also part of the more accomodationist group when it came to civil rights, as well as being more for self-help. This is opposed to W. E. B Dubois, with Washington advocating for gaining freedom through gaining the respect of whites, while Dubois advocated more active political efforts including helping the founding of the NAACP. This in part explains why Carver was so hesitant to rock the boat and other things about his reaction, considering the goals and motives of Washington's philosophy on black liberation.
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Frdyan
Okay. But how does this undermine his place as a cornerstone of American agricultural history? So he wasn't a brilliant scientist chemistry wizard. Neither was Edison a profoundly inventive electrician. If the men served noble purposes in, and after their time, I don't understand the indignation with their legacy. Neil Degrasse Tyson is not the most productive astrophysicist. But I guarantee you he has brought more young minds into astrophysics than Mike Brown, or Tadashi Nakajima. Sometimes the myth serves a more important role than the man its built on.
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Okay. But how does this undermine his place as a cornerstone of American agricultural history? So he wasn't a brilliant scientist chemistry wizard. Neither was Edison a profoundly inventive electrician. If the men served noble purposes in, and after their time, I don't understand the indignation with their legacy. Neil Degrasse Tyson is not the most productive astrophysicist. But I guarantee you he has brought more young minds into astrophysics than Mike Brown, or Tadashi Nakajima. Sometimes the myth serves a more important role than the man its built on.
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Bardockfan150
It's interesting to note, at least to me, that you call Booker T. Washington the most prominent figure of his kind in this era. My instinct was to question, wait, wasn't W. E. B. Dubois contemporary, or at least only shortly later? And he was slightly later, sort of. Washington lived from 1856 to 1915. Dubois was born in 1868 and lived until 1963. It's interesting, too, that Carver actively made efforts to be less threatening than Washington. I always think of Washington as more accomaditionist foil to the more fervent Du Bois.
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It's interesting to note, at least to me, that you call Booker T. Washington the most prominent figure of his kind in this era. My instinct was to question, wait, wasn't W. E. B. Dubois contemporary, or at least only shortly later? And he was slightly later, sort of. Washington lived from 1856 to 1915. Dubois was born in 1868 and lived until 1963. It's interesting, too, that Carver actively made efforts to be less threatening than Washington. I always think of Washington as more accomaditionist foil to the more fervent Du Bois.
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Matthew
Thanks for this. Growing up (white, in the northeast US) I certainly heard of George Washington Carver but mostly as a punchline (usually on sitcoms lead by black people. I never got any context on what he was actually about, if he didn't invent peanut butter. I appreciate the actual history lesson, and I can see why my teachers didn't want to dive into the complexities of tokenism, accomodationism, and respectability politics when they barely had time to get through slavery bad, civil rights good.
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Thanks for this. Growing up (white, in the northeast US) I certainly heard of George Washington Carver but mostly as a punchline (usually on sitcoms lead by black people. I never got any context on what he was actually about, if he didn't invent peanut butter. I appreciate the actual history lesson, and I can see why my teachers didn't want to dive into the complexities of tokenism, accomodationism, and respectability politics when they barely had time to get through slavery bad, civil rights good.
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oksills
This all directly correlates with the biography of GWC that I taught all of my 8 children. My children were all greatly spaced, so different texts were, of necessity, used. All the biographies taught these same stories and general truths of his amazing life. No, we are not a black family. GWC was simply a great man! I believe children learn best by studying the successful lives of highly moral men and women! Exception, I did not know about his unusual voice.
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This all directly correlates with the biography of GWC that I taught all of my 8 children. My children were all greatly spaced, so different texts were, of necessity, used. All the biographies taught these same stories and general truths of his amazing life. No, we are not a black family. GWC was simply a great man! I believe children learn best by studying the successful lives of highly moral men and women! Exception, I did not know about his unusual voice.
reply
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