Thomas - George Washington Carver for Kids

Copyright 2019 by Peggy Thomas

All rights reserved

Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated

814 North Franklin Street

Chicago, Illinois 60610

ISBN 978-0-915864-00-3

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Thomas, Peggy, 1960 author.

Title: George Washington Carver for kids : his life and discoveries with 21 activities / Peggy Thomas.

Description: Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press Incorporated, [2019] | Audience: Age 9. | Audience: Grades 4 to 6. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018035154 (print) | LCCN 2018035951 (ebook) | ISBN 9780915864041 (Pdf) | ISBN 9780915864058 (Epub) | ISBN 9780915864102 (Kindle) | ISBN 9780915864003 (trade paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Carver, George Washington, 1864?1943Juvenile literature. | Tuskegee InstituteHistoryJuvenile literature. | African American agriculturistsBiographyJuvenile literature. | AgriculturistsUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. | African American scientistsBiographyJuvenile literature. | ScientistsBiographyJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC S417.C3 (ebook) | LCC S417.C3 T485 2019 (print) | DDC 630.92 [B] dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018035154

Cover design: Jonathan Hahn

Cover images: (front, clockwise from top right) Carver in his lab, Tuskegee University Archives, Tuskegee University; Tuskegee University seal, photo by author; preserved fruits and vegetables, photo by author; Carver teaching a botany class, Tuskegee University Archives, Tuskegee University; peanuts, Krzysztof Puszczyski/Pexels; (back, clockwise from top right) Carver tends to plants, Tuskegee University Archives, Tuskegee University; Carver the artist, courtesy of the George Washington Carver National Monument; gourd activity, illustration by Lindsey Cleworth Schauer

Interior design: Sarah Olson

Interior illustrations: Lindsey Cleworth Schauer

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2 1

George Washington Carver.

Tuskegee University Archives, Tuskegee University

No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it. George Washington Carver

T oday, most Americans recycle paper, plastic, and metal cans. We use biodegradable shopping bags and may even compost our kitchen scraps. Our cars are built with soybean plastic parts, and fueled by corn-based ethanol. George Washington Carver would be pleased. He spent most of his life promoting conservation and developing new products from agriculture.

Thenceforward, and forever free. Emancipation Proclamation.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-pga-02040

These ideas seem commonplace today, but they were unusual 100 years ago. There were plenty of natural resources, and farmers just focused on growing food and fiber crops without worrying about whether they were using those resources efficiently. But Carver saw a lot was going to waste, and he met too many poor farmers who could barely feed themselves as a result. He had to do something. Carvers work in conservation and agriculture was all part of a bigger vision. He saw a world where people lived in harmony with nature and with each other. This vision began long before he became famous for developing dozens of peanut products. It was rooted in a lifetime of struggle and uncertainty. George struggled against poverty and racism, and was uncertain about who he was, what he could be, and where he came from.