Here is another poem to help celebrate and learn about Black Americans during this Month dedicated to Black (African American) History...
George Washington Carver, Scientist
Agriculture and Biochemistry
1. CROP ROTATION
Rotate your crops, Carver advised
black farmers in the South
(and farmers everywhere)
as their yields of cotton dwindled
year to year.
King Cotton is a hungry beast
that eats and depletes the soil,
divide, rotate your acreage
with substituted plants
that rest, renew, restore, regenerate
the loam of the land
from spot to spot
and season to season.
The principle took hold,
black farmers in the South
(and farmers everywhere)
survived and thrived again.
2. PEANUTS
Plant peanuts, as an alternate,
for these legumes are allies
in helping heal the land
and will be a good cash crop, too.
And to ensure demand
in the marketplace
for the shelled pod seeds,
Carver developed
a better peanut butter
to spread on bread
(with jelly/jam added) and
changed kids' lunches
evermore, then went on
to invent and innovate
peanut oil, peanut milk,
peanut paper, peanut soap,
peanut rubber, peanut glue
and other peanutty things.
3. SWEET POTATOES
Grow a patch of sweet potatoes,
Carver urged –
good for the home
in dinners and in pies,
as flour an adjunct to wheat,
grows and stores easily,
harvested, cured then ready
to send to grocery stores...
And just like the peanut,
these tubers can become
paper, vinegar, molasses,
alcohol, dyes, rubber
and biodegradable plastic.
4. SUSTAINABLE
George Washington Carver
knew the oil and ores
of the Earth
would not last forever...
so set his sights on sustainability
and sought to synthesize
humanity's material needs
from growing things
in Nature's plant domain
in perpetuity –
a vision clearer, in our time,
as the path to take today.
5. THE SECRET
When I could read books
on my own,
a biography of G. W. Carver
was one of them,
where I learned all the outer facts
of his accomplishments,
but who was the inner man –
what drove him?
The curiosity, the passion
to unravel the chemical makeup
of a peanut, a sweet potato,
a soy bean
and transform each into miracles
of new materials
to aid his people – all people
live better lives.
That is what captured me
about his life –
his love of science
and the pursuit of knowing
and sharing the results
of what he'd discovered.
G. W. Carver lived
the adventurous life
of learning more,
of exploring mysteries
and creating and helping...
How he must have loved it!
How I have loved it...
for that was his essence –
the secret – the inspiration
of how to be,
which George Washington Carver
gave to me.
6. THE LEGACY
All of the above and more
is Carver's legacy,
a quiet hero and a person who
gave his gifts ceaselessly
throughout his life,
can we do any less?
©2025 Carl Scott Harker
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If you wish, check out my latest book of unique art work available on Amazon: Fine Art Witches and Pinup Witches: in the style of…
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You can find another black History Month poem here: Black History Month Poem: Always Running Towards.
