Narrator: The Carvers did their best to provide George with some education. But by the time
he was around 12 years old his curiosity could no longer be contained. There was a school
for blacks in Neosho, a town eight miles away. George set out alone and on foot to achieve
an education.
[music]
Dr. Luther Williams, Scientist/Higher Education Academic Administrator: It represents powerful
psychological resiliency. What motivates a young person 10, 12 years old, to leave where
he resides and walk eight miles to a school? It is not only the site from which he originated
his education, it is the site that actually represents the initiation of what I call his
path to freedom and that is the anchor. That is the beginning of the incredible story that
is called Carver.
[music]
Narrator: When George arrived in Neosho, Andrew and Mariah Watkins, a childless black couple,
agreed to take him in as long as he was willing to help with the chores. Even though George
lived with the Watkins only a short period of time, Mariah seemed to have made a powerful
impression on him. She was a midwife in the community and had a great knowledge of plants
and their medicinal powers, which appealed to George and inspired his lifelong conviction
illnesses could be cured through proper use of plants and the products extracted from them.
Mariah's strong faith also influenced George
and she was the first person he met who urged him to use his genius to serve their people.
Narrator: George's teacher in Neosho was unable to give him the level of education that he
desired. So, when a couple stopped at the Watkins' home on their way to Fort Scott,
Kansas, he hitched a ride. He made friends, many of them white, but he was never far from
the shadow of racism. In Fort Scott, he witnessed the lynching of a black man and left town
immediately. Later, he was admitted to Highland College in Kansas, only to be turned away
when officials saw the color of his skin.
Lana Henry, Management Assistant, George Washington Carver National Monument: Those kinds of things
could drive you into a cave, you could just back up and say, I just can't face this. But
he didn't, he just kept driving forward and facing the harsh realities ahead. And it's
so interesting because towards the end of his life when he was hired to be a spokesman
for interracial cooperation and what an impact he made on so many people that went on to
impact others and impact others and all those experiences he had, the encounters and the
racial barriers, struggles, prejudice, and yet keeping one foot going in front of the
other.
Curtis Gregory, Park Ranger, George Washington Carver National Monument: One thing I can
appreciate from Carver is that, as an African-American, is that all the things that Carver went through,
leaving here and experiencing hate, and he did experience hate, that Carver was never
bitter. And that's something that I definitely can appreciate. Even in our society today,
which some things that Carver went through are still very relevant today as well, and
sometimes I look on Carver's life story as an example of how I can be a better person
as well.
Sceiva Holland, Tuskegee, Alabama: He didn't take the tragedies of life, the disappointments
of life, to define him. And he had things happening so much, so many things that you're
like how in the world did he even ever want to do anything, much less do something? Why
would he want to help somebody else if he wasn't getting some of the things that he
thought he should have?