WELCOME PARENTS George Washington Carver High School Parent Night.
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER, - Weebly · 2 NOTE TO TEACHER: Meet George Washington Carver, the "Plant...
Transcript of GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER, - Weebly · 2 NOTE TO TEACHER: Meet George Washington Carver, the "Plant...
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THE PEANUT MAN
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER,
INVENTOR!
By Robin Pullen
copyright august, 2017
teachersthemusical.com
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NOTE TO TEACHER: Meet George Washington Carver, the "Plant Doctor," who
transforms junk to inventions in a dozen read aloud, pre-lesson, scenes.
CHARACTERS for the full 45-minute play may be acted by the entire class, or by three
players who assume multiple roles:
GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER, (1864-1943) sports a sprig of green.
* WOMAN
* MAN
* WOMAN plays MAMA
FARMER
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
TEACHER I
JOE
*MAN plays HENRY FORD
THOMAS EDISON
FRANKLN DELANO ROOSEVELT (glasses clipped
to the bridge of his nose)
THEODORE ROOSEVELT (high pitched voice, pounding fist)
MAN
CONGRESSMAN
FLOWER
ETTA
TEACHER II
MOSES CARVER
GEORGE WASHINGTON (GW)
Special appearances by African American inventors: NOTE: For additional
characters, all PROPS can come to life!
Madame C.J. Walker Daniel Hale Williams
Sarah Goode Benjamin Banneker
Miriam Benjamin M.A. Cherry
SET:
A field. Continuous, fluid movement throughout.
MUSIC:
Rhythmic, interpretive songs (optional)
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A Standards Based Drama
Social Studies Standards:
SS.8.6.6 States’ Rights and Slavery-describe views about slavery (Farmer’s point of
view)
SS.USH4.2 Important Individuals in the Civil War era-beliefs and contributions
(Booker T. Washington)
SS51.12. Maps to draw conclusions-use physical maps to draw conclusions about
settlement after the Civil War
(GWC’s journeys)
Science
S.ChS.1.Science Inquiry: Questions & Design-evaluate the importance of curiosity and
skepticism (Inventors: Henry Ford, Thomas Edison)
PS2: The Nature of Science-how Carver analyzed new material relative to past scientific
knowledge
S. ChS.9.1 Reading informational and fictional science texts (crop rotation/southern
economics)
PS4: Plant Classification: Apply classification tools to identify types of plants
PS6: Society & Technology-analyze the use and importance of plants for food, medicine
and other products (research/peanuts/products)
Reading:
ELAALRL-Demonstrates comprehension in nonfiction and informational texts
LA.AAL.6.2 Critical Listening: Speaker Purpose: Recognize a speaker's purpose and
identify verbal and nonverbal components of communication (FDR, Theodore
Roosevelt)
LA.AAL.8.1 Mass Media: Representations
The learner will be able to evaluate messages and effects of mass media (or drama)
Technology:
T7: Use brainstorming/webbing software in planning and organizing Civil War research
African American Research:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart6.html
http://www.eduplace.com/science/invention/overview.html#learning-
(Invention Convention)
http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/danielwilliams.html
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SCENE ONE: MAMA, GEORGE, MOSES, (Optional PROPS, as needed)
MAMA
(Calls to George from offstage.)
Carver’s George!
GEORGE
( enters with his SHOVEL and picks a flower)
Yes, Mama? And how are you, Flower! What’s blooming? I wish I could name every
stone, insect, bird and beast, and especially, flower.
(ALL chant/sing with him.)
Butterfly weed
And li-ii-atris
Purple cone
Core-opsis
Tall white aster
Mountain mint
Marigolds
Of yellow tint.
MAMA
(still from offstage)
George, are you talking to those flowers again!
GEORGE
How do Mamas know everything! When I close my eyes I can still see you, Mama, a
slave on our farm in Diamond Grove, Missouri.
(speaks to audience)
Missouri, that’s two states up and one west of us.
MAMA
(enters)
My son George was born in 1864 during the Civil War, the war where the north border
states fought the southern states, like Georgia.
GEORGE
How many of you know your birthday? Well, back in the 1800’s no one actually kept
records of when slaves were born.
MAMA
We lived on a farm with the family that owned us, Susan and Moses Carver.
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MOSES
I hired your daddy who right away taught himself to read. His family was so poor, he
couldn't afford to buy a pencil, so he carved a holder that was only the size of my
thumbnail.
GEORGE
I wish I got to meet my Daddy, Sir.
MOSES
Sorry about his accident, George. Tractors are terribly dangerous.
MAMA
Come in the kitchen, Son, and Miss Susan and me will fix you something tasty.
GEORGE
But then one terrible day Mama and I were taken away!
MAMA
Sold again!
GEORGE
But why can’t we still be free with the Carvers!
MAMA
No one can own our thoughts, George. Always remember that.
GEORGE
Because we were sent to different places, I started speaking to Mama in my head. Mama?
MAMA
You make me SMILE, George!
GEORGE
Uh uh. You make ME smile!
MAMA
I see big things going to happen for you, George!
GEORGE
I’m going to make you proud, Mama! I promise!
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MAMA
(turns, before exiting)
I know that’s right!
GEORGE
But the only folks I got to talk to in the barn I was taken to were horses!
End of Scene One.
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SCENE TWO (GEORGE, MOSES, FLOWER)
GEORGE
(standing alone)
I stayed in that barn with all those mangy horses, until one lonely afternoon a tall man
came in, trading his thoroughbred .
MOSES
(enters)
George! It’s really you!
GEORGE
Master Carver! I never thought I’d see you again!
MOSES
You’re coming with me back to the old farm.
GEORGE
But how? My job is to stay with these horses.
MOSES
See my race horse tied out back? Watch! Sir! I will give you three hundred dollars for
that boy! And for him I will trade you for my magnificent race horse!
(throws hands up with glee)
Done! George, you, are going back to the farm with me!
GEORGE
But Mama’s nowhere. She disappeared forever.
MAMA
(her back toward him, she turns around.)
Who still tells you you’re going to do big things with your life, George?
GEORGE
You, Mama.
MAMA
Well, go on now!
GEORGE
So now more than anytime that’s what I wanted to do.
(coughs)
But because of all that time living with horses, I got a cough.
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(MOSES enters with a board)
MOSES
That’s some cough you’ve got.
GEORGE
You ever have a bad cough before? Well, I did. Whooping. And it made me frail. Weak.
MOSES
Today those big boards out back have to be lugged away.
GEORGE
(coughs as he tries to carry the board)
I’m trying, Sir, I am.
MOSES
(takes the board from him)
So what if you can’t do heavy chores like the other slaves. You’ll teach yourself in the
big house-
GEORGE
(reading dictionary)
And I taught myself how to read. And know things. Big house- the house owned by the
slave owners.
MOSES
You’ll learn, you’ll draw. You’ll see, George. You’ll find your own way.
GEORGE
So when I was twelve I learned how to sew. And I got to spend long hours by myself in
the woods around the farm. Doing what I loved best, gardening! One day I was puttering
with the soil when I heard-
(FLOWER enters, drooping)
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FLOWER
Psst, over here, George!
GEORGE
Hmm, looks like something’s wrong with you, Flower.
FLOWER
(sneezes)
Who ever heard before of a flower who’s allergic to her own petals.
GEORGE
I know just the kind of medicine that’ll make you feel better. Here.
(replants flower)
FLOWER
Carver’s George, you’re a regular plant doctor!
(puts a flower in his lapel)
FLOWER
How does it feel wearing something living on your lapel?
GEORGE
From now on, I always will. And you know what else? When I grow up I’m going to
study plants, and be a botanist!
FLOWER
Because you made me better, I painted you a reward!
(hands him a PAINTING)
GEORGE
All these beautiful flowers. I know what else I’m going to be…an artist!
FLOWER
And I will remember who cured me of all that sneezing, Plant Doctor!
(struts off)
GEORGE
A plant doctor! I felt like the richest kid anywhere and then I heard the news.
(MOSES enters)
MOSES
Did you hear, Boy? The Civil War ended! The north won so now southern blacks are
free. You’re no longer a slave!
GEORGE
I’m free? I can live where I want, and work for real money?
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MOSES
Free to go.
GEORGE
That’s a generous offer, but the truth is,I don’t want to. I love the old farm so much,
please let me stay.
MOSES
George. The truth is…I’d like nothing better.
GEORGE
(looking in DICTIONARY)
Generous- willing to give or share unstintingly.
MOSES
You know, don’t you, that other slave owners don’t want their slaves to have an
education. But not me.
GEORGE
Thank you, because I want to learn everything! About crops that make the soil better.
Peas, soybeans, sweet potatoes, pecans, peanuts!
MOSES
You really do want to learn everything. But.
GEORGE
But, what, what? You have to tell me.
MOSES
The truth is, Carver’s George, there are no schools here for black boys like you.
GEORGE
But where, then?
MOSES
Newton County.
GEORGE
But that’s a hundred miles away from here!
MOSES
And you’re only twelve.
GEORGE
But I have to, Sir. I have to learn.
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MOSES
Then that’s what you’ll do.
(MOSES waves good-bye to GEORGE)
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SCENE THREE (GEORGE, JOE, TEACHER I)
GEORGE
There was no car to drive me to the school, so I walked. And I walked. And I walked.
Ow. These feet!
(takes off SHOES)
And there I met an old black man who didn’t have any children. Joe and his wife let me
sleep in their barn all winter.
(JOE enters, sporting a red bandana. G. extends
his hand.)
Carver’s George.
JOE
We’ll call you George Carver. The barn is cold, George. Ooh, dogs, is it cold! But you’ll
have plenty to eat. And a place to sleep. Long as you do chores.
GEORGE
Chores, huh?
JOE
You don’t want to starve, do ya? See boys around me starving every day.
GEORGE
Not going to happen to me. When I come home from school-
JOE
Household chores!
GEORGE
And when I wake up in the morning-
JOE
Household chores!
GEORGE
And during the day, I'll go to school.
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JOE
Got us a segregated school here. All the coloreds together in one room.
GEORGE
Sign me up for that!
(JOE ties red bandana around his neck,ties
TEACHER’s apron.)
JOE
But I don’t know what the teachers gonna think of you.
GEORGE
What you mean?
JOE
Too smart for your own good. Too smart for your own good!
GEORGE
Boy, Joe was right about that. First day at the school the teacher says:
TEACHER I
Recess!
(GEORGE reads his book)
GEORGE
And I keep reading my book. And she says,
TEACHER I
Recess!
GEORGE
And I keep reading my book. And she says,
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TEACHER I
GEORGE CARVER!
GEORGE
Which is not a good thing when the teacher says your first name and your last. “Yes,
‘M?” I says. I try to be polite.
TEACHER I
When a teacher tells you a thing, you got to go and do it. That’s the rule. The rule of
school. And it’s my job to tell you the rules.
GEORGE
But you don’t understand.
TEACHER I
Oh, I don’t understand!
GEORGE
I’ve got to study, Ma’am. Before school and after I do my chores at home.
TEACHER I
Way you’re studying, soon you’ll know more than even me!
GEORGE
Boy, she was right about that. Ma’am!
TEACHER I
What is it now, George?
GEORGE
Did you know that mycology is the branch of botany that deals with fungi?
TEACHER I
Sure I heard it-just actually didn’t know it until you told me! Now after school it would
be nice if you played like the other boys.
GEORGE
But after school Mr. Joe had different ideas for me.
(TEACHER reties JOE’s bandana.)
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SCENE FOUR: (JOE, GEORGE, GEORGE WASHINGTON/GW)
JOE
(JOE hands G. a pot)
George, you’re going to earn your keep here. I was thinking, not sure if you know it or
not, but I’m not too good at cooking.
GEORGE
Oh, I know it!
JOE
Sure are honest!
GEORGE
I mean-
JOE
What I’m saying is that hominy you made us last night was real good.
GEORGE
All I did was stir out the lumps, Sir. Don’t really know anything else about cooking.
JOE
So good, I reckon you can even sell it.
GEORGE
Sell it? You mean earn money? My very own money? Hmmm…
JOE
Lots of chores you can do around here so I won’t have to.
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GEORGE
Chores!
JOE
Fella can get rich being a farm hand, or even a laundry helper! But if you’re not
interested-
GEORGE
My own money here I come!
(JOE hands G an iron)
JOE
AND you can even iron!
GEORGE
Iron! Me, a boy, iron?
JOE
Looks like you’re having a mighty fine time ironing!
GEORGE
Ironing. You can keep that! I ended up ironing clothes and clothes and clothes for all my
classmates, ‘til I heard the words I always dreamed of.
JOE
George, it’s time to get rid of that old iron. It has seen its day.
GEORGE
Yessirree! Get rid of this old iron.
(JOE takes IRON. GEORGE reluctantly
grabs it back)
Wait.
JOE
What’re you doing?
GEORGE
Not like we can just throw it away. Even if it is a nasty iron.
JOE
Old, broken iron. I don’t have no problem with tossing it in the heap.
(JOE throws away iron.)
GEORGE
Stop! We’ll find a new use for it.
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JOE
Oh, no. I saw what you did with that old wrapping paper you found! Garbage is garbage.
GEORGE
(sifting through GARBAGE)
Garbage is treasure. You think this is just an old bag. Not to me, a notebook!
JOE
A notebook that is garbage. That’s what it is.
GEORGE
The city dump is a treasure chest!
JOE
You’re not bringing any of that festering, rotten junk heap in here!
GEORGE
This isn’t junk! It’s an old stove. Know what I’m going to do with it?
JOE
You’ll say throw it away if you’re smart.
GEORGE
I’m going to cook you a meal!
JOE
Can’t wait to eat that. Cooked on garbage!
GEORGE
Not going to throw something away that can be used again.
JOE
In that Webster’s dictionary of yours, look up Mr. Horticulturalist who’s a pain in the
rumproast .
GEORGE
(opens DICTIONARY)
Horticulture-the science or of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers, and plants.
JOE
You look up so many words, I think you memorized the whole book word by word!
GEORGE
Great idea!
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JOE
You look up “junk” in that book of yours and you’ll find j-u-n-k.
GEORGE
Inventors love, love, love junk. You’re looking at George Carver the Inventor, I’m telling
you!
JOE
George Carver. There’s already a George Carver in town.
GEORGE
Then I’ll add a W to it, to keep people from being confused.
JOE
What’s the W stand for? You think you’re some president or something?
(JOE exits)
GEORGE
Actually it’s because I greatly admire President George Washington. There he is now!
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SCENE FIVE (JOE, GEORGE, GW, MAMA)
JOE
George Washington from a hundred years ago from the Revolutionary War!
GEORGE
I can see him in my imagination. No harm in that!
(GW enters, sporting a white wig)
GW
George Washington, at your service!
GEORGE
I hope you don’t mind I borrowed your name for my own.
GW
I’m honored. You must be impressed with me because I helped defeat the British during
the Revolutionary War?
GEORGE
The British? Yeah, they’re okay, but what interests me is what you did with crop
rotation!
GW
Crop rotation! I’m sure you are more interested that I resigned my commission during the
French and Indian War because of disparity of pay between the British and colonial
officers. I’m afraid there is discrimination for you here even now, a hundred years later.
GEORGE
(GW exits. G. doesn’t have to look up word
in Webster’s.)
Discrimination. Treatment based on class rather than individual merit
(JOE, enters wearily, holding a ROPE.)
JOE
Our first president was right, George. Fort Scott’s no place for a black man. You didn’t
see any shenanigans on the way home from school-
GEORGE
Look! An angry mob.
JOE
Not talking about it.
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GEORGE
A mob of white men!
JOE
Sweeping this porch, George. I don't hear you!
GEORGE
They're doing something bad. I can hear it!
JOE
Take this broom, and sweep, sweep.
GEORGE
(He throws down his BROOM. MAMA picks it
up.)
I’m not going to live in a terrible place like this! I’m not!
JOE
If your Mama were here, what would she say?
MAMA
No boy of mine should ever have to be schooled in a place like this.
GEORGE
But if I can’t live here, where will I go to High School, Mama?
MAMA
You’ll go were there are black boys like you.
GEORGE
There’s no school for black kids for me!
MAMA
Isn’t there.
GEORGE
But-
MAMA
But it is what your heart is telling you to do. I hear it, George.
GEORGE
And I hear you. I’m going to learn for you, Mama! I’m going to learn so much that if you
were here you would say-
MAMA
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Son, I’m so proud of you.
SCENE SIX (GEORGE, TEACHER II, MAMA)
GEORGE
Yeah. That…So I went. And I learned all I could from High School in 1885. Then it was
time to think of College.
(To TEACHER II, who enters.
The two are distanced
from each other. G. writes.)
Dear Highland College Professor, I’ve learned everything I can at my school. And what I
need now is a place where I can learn even more. I’m graduated now, so I’m going to
spend all of my money applying to a good school that could give me an education…And
he wrote me back!
.
TEACHER II
Mr. Carver, according to your school records-
GEORGE
Yes, I like to learn! I want to study science, and invent things! I sure love rubbish! Maybe
I shouldn’t exactly put that part in my letter!
TEACHER II
Your record looks great, Mr. Carver. Why don’t you travel to the University and accept
your scholarship.
GEORGE
Accept my-does that mean I made it, Mama?
MAMA
You know what that dictionary of yours says!
GEORGE
(G. mounts a horse/chair and then dismounts.)
So I traveled to Kansas. One state left of Missouri. Professor?
(he extends his hand but TEACHER doesn’t
take it.)
TEACHER II
You’re a Negro!
GEORGE
Last time I looked!
TEACHER II
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Why didn’t you tell me?
GEORGE
What does that have to do with anything.
TEACHER II
As of this moment, your scholarship and acceptance, George Washington Carver, are
declined!
GEORGE
But I passed the college entrance examination!
TEACHER II
Your kind can not enroll.
GEORGE
I have to go to college!
TEACHER II
There’s the Homestead Act. Anyone can get a tract of land to cultivate for five years.
GEORGE
I want to get an education and you’re offering me land!
TEACHER II
Take it or leave it.
GEORGE
No! What I have to do is-
(MAMA enters, bringing him his SHOVEL)
Oh, give me that shovel…So, like Moses Carver who raised me, I gave up on my
education and became a farmer. I cleared the land, and built a home.
MAMA
Being a farmer doesn’t sound like the dream my boy had for himself.
GEORGE
Not one school wants me!
MAMA
So if being a farmer’s the life you want-
GEORGE
You know it’s not!
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MAMA
Know you’re not at all interested in Simpson College.
GEORGE
The college in Iowa.
MAMA
Reckon, with all that farming you love so much, you don’t have time to apply to Simpson
College.
GEORGE
One state up from Missouri, here I come!
MAMA
Now don’t miss your train!
(MAMA puts on a straw hat)
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SCENE SEVEN (GEORGE, ETTA, FARMER)
GEORGE
Boarding. North to Iowa. And that’s where I met Mrs. Etta Budd.
ETTA
A thirty year old farmer, will you look at that!
GEORGE
College is calling my name, Ma’am.
ETTA
Took you long enough to answer.
GEORGE
I want to learn, Ma’am.
ETTA
About the color of your skin.
GEORGE
What about the color of my skin!
ETTA
At Simpson, we don’t give a hoot about the color of your skin. You’re accepted!
GEORGE
You hear that, Mama? The college accepted me! I am the second black student! And I am
finally going to study science!
ETTA
No, George, I’m sorry.
GEORGE
What do you mean? You said I got accepted.
ETTA
But all our school offers is piano and art.
GEORGE
Piano and art…! Well, I guess that’s close to science.
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ETTA
You do have a good singing voice.
GEORGE
Singing. So I sang and played the piano-
I washed my socks and washed my britches
Washed my shirts in my laundry business
Money came in and helped pay my way
Etta Budd’s art instructing filled my days.
Good morning, Ms. Budd.
ETTA
George, you know my father is head of Iowa State’s Department of Horticulture.
GEORGE
I didn’t know that, Ma’am.
ETTA
And he says you draw fine pictures of plants. So fine, that you won first place in our
state-wide contest! In Cedar Rapids.
GEORGE
That requires dress clothes and travel. So though I am humbled by this honor-
ETTA
No is not a word! Your classmates bought you a train ticket so you have no choice but to
go and get your honor.
GEORGE
I don’t know what to say.
ETTA
Don’t say. Do. Use those beautiful plant paintings of yours, your horticultural talents.
And apply for a career in scientific agriculture.
GEORGE
(points to dictionary)
Agriculture-cultivating soil, raising livestock, farming-
ETTA
And producing crops.
GEORGE
But there’s never been a black man-
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ETTA
Never been ‘til now.
GEORGE
It’s my dream, Miss Budd.
ETTA
Then you must follow it.
GEORGE
So I filled out that application. But, oh, the waiting!
ETTA
Hear anything yet?
GEORGE
Not a word.
ETTA
George! I do believe you have a delivery.
GEORGE
Read it for me. I’m so nervous.
ETTA
(nervously opens letter)
I believe I’m more on edge than even you. It says here. It says-
(she starts to cry)
GEORGE
They didn’t accept me.
ETTA
George Washington Carver, you are the first African American to enroll at Iowa State
College of Agriculture!
GEORGE
To enroll-but did I get in?
ETTA
And the first to get accepted!
GEORGE
The first!
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MAMA
(tying on her white apron)
Oh, George. Do you know what this means?
GEORGE
Mama, for you, this African American earned himself a Bachelor of Science Degree!
MAMA
My son prevented and cured fungus diseases affecting cherry plants.
ETTA
Oh, George, the most glorious news. Aside from Honorable Mention at the Chicago’s
World Fair. Two funguses have been named for you!
GEORGE
You sure this is a good thing?
ETTA
Oh, George, more great news! You are our college’s first black faculty member!
MAMA
My son became the first black person in America to get a Masters of Science in
agriculture. The very first. A mother is allowed to brag a little bit.
GEORGE
Mama, how I can see you smile!
(TEACHER II enters with papers to sign.)
TEACHER II
We are proud, Mr. Carver, to accept you as director of the department of agricultural
research!
GEORGE
Me, a botanist, a studier of plants! Students! Gather round.
FARMER
(ties on the bandana)
Yes, Sirree, Professor Carver.
GEORGE
Nature is the greatest teacher. By understanding the forces in nature, we can understand
the dynamics of agriculture. When you do common things in an uncommon way you will
command the attention of the world.
FARMER
It’s like you say, Sir. Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.
GEORGE
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Just remember, reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens
carefully, he can learn even more than what is in the books.
SCENE EIGHT (TEACHER II, BOOKER, GEORGE)
TEACHER II
George! I have great news! Today there is someone who is here to see you, the founder of
Tuskegee Institute, a college for Negroes, in Alabama.
(BOOKER T enters, wearing a black bow tie)
GEORGE
Alabama! That’s two states down!
BOOKER T
It is my privilege-
GEORGE
Booker T. Washington! Born a slave, like me.
BOOKER T
I have taught carpentry, mechanics, and farming, like you, George. And I believe that
work skills will lead to economic prosperity for the black man.
GEORGE
It’s a difficult world, Sir, with those Jim Crow laws, segregating blacks and whites.
Separate drinking fountains, separate schools.
BOOKER T.
But now the black man has his own school, George. True, I cannot offer you money,
position or fame. The first two you have. The last, the place you now occupy, you will no
doubt achieve. These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place work-
hard, hard work-the task of bringing a people from degradation, poverty, to full manhood.
I offer you a position at the Tuskegee Institute!
GEORGE
Alabama. I would help people with their science! But there will be no money. No
money? Hmmm…
(sings)
Give me a million dollars
And I don’t care
Offer to send me on expeditions
I won’t ask where
When you pursue what you love
The wealth comes with it.
The richest person in the world
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Uses his talents to the fullest!
BOOKER T
(shakes GEORGE’s hand)
Welcome aboard, George! But there is one thing you must know.
GEORGE
Yes, Sir.
BOOKER T
Where you’re going is the south. Life for a black man is much more different in Alabama
than here in the north.
GEORGE
How bad can it be?
BOOKER T
Slaves no more.
GEORGE
So I traveled one thousand miles to Tuskegee Institute. And I began teaching my first
black farmers. Sir? SIR!
30
SCENE NINE (FARMER, GEORGE, MAN)
FARMER
You talking to me?
(ties on bandana as he looks around)
GEORGE
You’re the only gentleman standing in the field, aren’t you?
FARMER
Gentleman, huh? Now that you mention it, I reckon I am.
GEORGE
And you want to grow as many kind of crops as you can on this land, don’t you?
FARMER
This land? All that grows here is tobacco and cotton.
GEORGE
Not if we rotate the crops!
FARMER
Plant tobacco one season, cotton the next? Nope. Never been done.
GEORGE
One year we could grow peanuts, nitrate producing legumes. The next year we alternate
with cotton, which depletes the soil of its nutrients. So peanuts, cotton, peanuts, cotton.
FARMER
Cotton only crop planted here.
GEORGE
Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
FARMER
Peanuts. Who ever heard of workin’ for peanuts!
GEORGE
All that planting will make the soil richer.
(discards a peach)
31
GEORGE
Wait! Don’t throw that away.
FARMER
But it’s junk.
GEORGE
Some folks think junk is useful.
FARMER
Some folks have a screw loose.
GEORGE
Everything has a purpose, even if that purpose might change over time.
FARMER
A peach pit is a peach pit.
GEORGE
Not if we take the remains of all kinds of food and turn it into fertilizer.
FARMER
Will you lookee here! Never saw cotton grow like this before!
GEORGE
Let’s call it Carver’s Hybrid. I like the name.
FARMER
Will you look at that!
GEORGE
It’s the soil, Man.
FARMER
We’re growing six times as much as what we grew the year before! This is more cotton
than any farm in the area!
GEORGE
See, if you plant peanuts and legumes, which are part of the legume family, they restore
nitrogen to the soil while also providing protein.
FARMER
Peanuts? All this from the measly peanut?
GEORGE
32
Come with me and we can tell all the farmers. We’ll make ourselves a movable school.
FARMERS
Farmers! We’ve got ourselves peanuts. This nut-and I’m not talking about our friend the
Carver fella, these peanuts gonna change our lives!
GEORGE
(clears throat)
They’ll promote good health, sound nutrition and self-sufficiency.
FARMER
Yeah. What he said!
GEORGE
We did it, Man.
(FARMER stands back as MAN in overalls enters.)
MAN
Boy!
GEORGE
Sir.
MAN
Who do you think you are?
GEORGE
A Peanut Man. That’s all.
MAN
Planting, inventing, experimenting. You think you’re better than everybody else!
GEORGE
God put me on this planet to settle troubled waters. He made his students work hard, and
he insisted they do each experiment right. If they told him they had done something
"about right", he would say, "Don't tell me it's 'about right'. If it's 'about right', then it's
wrong."
MAN
You watch your back.
GEORGE
I just want to show you. Since new products come from creativity, we must encourage
that creative mind in every way.
MAN
33
NO. You don’t talk to me no more. You hear?
(MAN turns his back. FARMER plows)
GEORGE
I hear, but that isn’t going to keep me from helping the black people.
FARMER
Oh, no. You leave that soybean alone. I see that look in your eye, Mr. Carver. And that’s
an I got an idea for the soybean kind of look!
GEORGE
Look! We can produce dyes of five hundred different shades of paint and stains, all from
the soybean. Try this-extracting blue, purple and red pigments from the clay!
FARMER
Thanks to you, Sir, sure can’t call the south a one-crop land.
GEORGE
Come on, everybody, plant peanuts!
FARMER
As you say, Peanut Man!
GEORGE
Peanut Man! Ooh, I like that!
FARMER
George! Problem! Big problem!
GEORGE
All these peanuts-
FARMER
Sure they’re growing well, but-
GEORGE
Too well!
FARMER
There’s peanuts in the ground, peanuts bursting to the sky, everywhere you look there’s
peanuts, peanuts, peanuts! Carver! What in heaven’s name are we going to do with all
these peanuts?
GEORGE
They’re rotting!
34
FARMER
Overflowing in every warehouse. Whoo ee. I’ve never seen so many peanuts in one
place!
GEORGE
I’ve got to go.
FARMER
Wait! You can’t just hide. Someone’s got to explain all these nuts!
GEORGE
I’m sorry. I just can’t deal with people right now.
FARMER
You come back here this minute! Don’t you lock yourself in that laboratory! You can’t
hide from us, Peanut Man !
GEORGE
Please God, why did You make the peanut? All those hundreds and hundreds of peanuts!
FARMER
It’s been three days you’ve been locked in that laboratory, George. What do you have to
say to us now?
GEORGE
(exits from laboratory)
You’re not going to believe this!
FARMER
Oh, no! Here we go again!
GEORGE
I learned we could make three hundred twenty products from the peanut plant!
FARMER
Never heard of such a thing!
GEORGE
Adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee-
FARMER
Instant coffee, huh?
GEORGE
35
Linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic
FARMER
PLASTIC!
GEORGE
Pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder, cheese, milk,
flour, wood, soaps, cosmetics!
From cooking oil to printer’s ink
Synthetic rubber, and cheese to eat
From paving highways and chili sauce
From adhesives to axle grease
Peanuts, look what you can do with peanuts
How you can take a legume
And make it into shaving cream!
Peanuts, look what you can do with peanuts
How you can take junk
And turn it into an inventor’s dream!
FARMER
Oh, what’s next? Now you’re going to tell me there are a hundred uses for a sweet
potato?
GEORGE
A hundred eighteen!
FARMER
No way.
GEORGE
Look! Flour, vinegar, molasses, rubber, and even postage stamp glue all from the potato!
FARMER
Now that’s sweet!
GEORGE
All because we rotated the soil so the new crops could grow!
36
SCENE TEN: (FARMER, GEORGE,CONGRESSMAN, EDISON, FORD, FDR JOE,
MAMA)
FARMER
Mr. Carver, you’re not going to believe it, but there’s a man from Congress on the phone.
GEORGE
A lawmaker for me?
FARMER
From Washington, DC!
GEORGE
Three states north of Alabama! Hello?
CONGRESSMAN
(on the telephone, wearing a tall, black hat.)
Mr. Carver?
GEORGE
Peanut Man, at your service.
CONGRESSMAN
Would you like to speak to Congress about these discoveries and the usefulness of
peanuts?
GEORGE
Would I? A black man like me! So I traveled to Washington.
CONGRESSMAN
Mr. Carver. I’m afraid you have five minutes tops to state your case.
GEORGE
Gentlemen of the Congresss, where before our soil was depleted, now it is rich and
fertile.
CONGRESSMAN
Alright. Perhaps five minutes more.
37
GEORGE
Peanuts are now one of the leading crops in the United States. CONGRESSMAN
We are running out of time, Mr. Carver.
GEORGE
Since we have been growing them, they have become a chief product of Alabama.
CONGRESSMAN
I suppose five more minutes won’t hurt.
GEORGE
And a two hundred million dollar industry.
CONGRESSMAN
Two hundred million! Well! I see no other choice, Sir, but to propose to Congress to allot
five million acres of peanuts for to farmers! Sir! (exits)
GEORGE
Five million acres! Now that’s no small peanuts.
FARMER
Ooh, you’re going to be rich, rich, rich.
GEORGE
God gave the ideas to me. How could I sell them to someone else.
FARMER
How! Easily! You’re going to sell them things and be in charge of the world just like the
white man.
GEORGE
Not my dream.
FARMER
You’ve got to make money! What about the patents you own on your three inventions!
Don’t you want to be a success!
GEORGE
To me, service measures success.
FARMER (EDISON enters, holding WIRE, and a
battery)
You think that’s what Thomas Edison would say! The inventor of the light bulb!
38
GEORGE
Why don’t we ask him ourselves.
FARMER
Ask Thomas Edison.
GEORGE
Why not. I bet HE has a bright idea.
39
SCENE ELEVEN (EDISON, GEORGE, MAMA, FORD)
EDISON
Do I! Used to drive my Mama crazy with my questions. Mama, how does a hen hatch
chickens? Why does water put out a fire? What makes birds fly?
GEORGE
You didn’t really put geese and hen eggs in a basket and sit on them?
EDISON
I admit, sometimes curiosity kills more than the cat! Mr. Carver, I’d like to hire you to
invent with me for one hundred thousand dollars a year.
MAMA
May as well be a million dollars a year!
EDISON
Know what they say-or I guess it’s me that said it-genius is one per cent inspiration and
ninety-nine percent perspiration.
GEORGE
That’s a lot of perspiration for 1093 patented inventions!
EDISON
Like you, I like to develop devices that work under ordinary conditions and are easy to
repair. But this-
(holding a wire and a battery)
10,000 times I’ve tried experiments with a storage battery trying to search for the wire
that would give light. But I didn’t fail. I just found 10,000 ways that don’t work!
(HENRY FORD enters, a model of a Model T,
in hand.)
GEORGE
Look! Look who’s pulling up in his 1908 Model T! I believe it’s the great automobile
manufacturer, Henry Ford, himself!
FORD
Carver, you know about my car factory in Dearborn, Michigan.
GEORGE
(whispers to us)
40
Four states north of Alabama.
FORD
I heard you are finding new things to do with plants n weeds.
GEORGE
The goldenrod. Sure is pretty.
FORD
Come with me and we’ll find new uses for this plant of yours.
GEORGE
We take Edison too?
FORD
Don’t see why not.
GEORGE
So we went to Michigan, the mitten state, and lo and behold…It’s beautiful, Sir!
FORD
I built this laboratory just for you, Carver.
GEORGE
It has everything. Plants. More plants. Even more plants!
FORD
I will be patient. Have you invented anything yet?
GEORGE
Mr. Ford!
FORD
Oh, sorry, sorry. I get so impatient. Now?
GEORGE
Patience. All in good time. All in-
FORD
Now did you invent something?
GEORGE
Henry!
FORD
41
I’m patient. I’m patient. Okay, so I’m not patient!
GEORGE
I’ve got it!
FORD
Finally!
GEORGE
We could use the goldenrod to create synthetic rubber!
FORD
Now all we need is an alternative fuel.
GEORGE
I’ve got it-soy!
FORD
Think, think. What could we use the soy for?
GEORGE
I’ve got it! Plastics!
FORD
Plastics!
GEORGE
(to us)
Plastics-a compound capable of being molded, cast into various shapes, or used as textile
fibers.
(to FORD)
Yes, it doesn’t dent. It would be perfect-
FORD
To put on my cars!
GEORGE
Now THAT’s a bright idea, ay, Mr. Edison?
EDISON
This is it! Mr. Carver, you have to move to Orange Grove, New Jersey with me, and we
can invent together. Think of what we can create!
GEORGE
New Jersey. Five states north of Alabama.
42
EDISON
I’ll tell you what. You by my partner, I’ll throw in an annual salary of one hundred
thousand dollars a year!
GEORGE
See, Mr. Edison, the style of clothes one wears, kind of automobile one drives, nor the
amount of money one has in the bank matters. They don’t mean anything to me.
EDISON
But I’m offering you a fortune, George!
GEORGE
Henry, you understand, don’t you?
(FORD bows. FARMER dons his bandana.)
43
SCENE TWELVE (FARMER, GEORGE, CONGRESSMAN)
FARMER
Don’t know about him. But I don’t think I do. Uh oh. Why are you looking at those wood
shavings like that? I know that look, Mr. Carver!
GEORGE
I was thinking-
FARMER
Watch out, World!
GEORGE
We can make synthetic marble out of it!
FARMER
Next you’ll be telling me you can make something out of this ol’ palmetto root here!
GEORGE
Sure. Veneers.
FARMER
But a cornstalk is just a cornstalk!
GEORGE
Until you turn it into rope!
FARMER
Soybeans are soybeans just as plain as the nose on my face!
GEORGE
But they could also be paints and stains! Five hundred shades.
FARMER
Lookee here! All this research you’ve done at Tuskegee. They’re going to give you…oh,
I never even heard of a number so big! Thirty thousand dollars!
44
GEORGE
All for charity.
FARMER
If you don’t get patents for your discoveries I will!
GEORGE
God gave these discoveries to me, how can I sell them to someone else? Besides, I have
enough to worry about with all these peanuts we’re getting from China.
FARMER
Hurting our business, I’ll tell you that!
GEORGE
Then we’ll have to tax China. That’s what I’m going to tell those officials at the tariff
meeting.
FARMER
No one’s going to listen to black man.
GEORGE
How far you go in life depends on you being tender with the young, compassionate with
the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because
someday, you will have been all of these.
FARMER
I’m behind you. All us farmers are. But we don’t know-
45
SCENE THIRTEEN: (GEORGE, CONGRESSMAN, ROOSEVELT, FDR, FARMER,
MAMA, FLOWER, BOOKER T, JOE, EDISON, FORD, MOSES)
GEORGE
Washington, D.C. Congressman, I speak before you.
CONGRESSMAN
(impatient)
You have ten minutes.
GEORGE
Our own southern farmers need to grow peanuts and tax those from China.
CONGRESSMAN
Ten more minutes.
GEORGE
We could make Worcester sauce from peanuts!
CONGRESSMAN
Ten more, and that’s it!
GEORGE
Varnishing cream!
CONGRESSMAN
Next you’ll be suggesting peanut butter.
GEORGE
No, I didn’t invent that, but I did invent rubbing cream!
CONGRESSMAN
Rubbing cream! I dare say, Mr. Carver, we unanimously vote in the tax on Chinese
peanuts. You’ll be so famous, there will be no living with you now. Look, Mr. Carver.
Our youngest president, Theodore Roosevelt, is calling on a black man!
ROOSEVELT
You believe as I do, Mr. Carver, in a life of strenuous endeavor.
GEORGE
Thank you for adding 150 million acres to our national forests.
46
ROOSEVELT
In our time, Mr. Carver, great inventors have worked their magic. In 1903 the Wright
Brothers took their first flight. In1905 Albert Einstein wrote the theory of relativity.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed his prairie style house, and Marconi sent the first
radio waves across the Atlantic! And you, Sir, known nationwide as the Peanut Man,
have made peanuts a two hundred million dollar industry in Alabama. All I could say,
Mr. Carver, is speak softly and carry a big stick. Meet my cousin, who will be our 32nd,
president.
GEORGE
Franklin Delano Roosevelt!
FDR
Congratulations, Mr. Carver.
GEORGE
I never thought I’d meet the president who has been elected four times.
FDR
Like you, George, I want to help the forgotten man. The farmer. I have a plan called the
New Deal, which will help your farmers.
FARMER
Thank you, President!
FDR
Never be afraid, Mr. Carver. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
GEORGE
Mama, you have taught me to take hold of the things that are here. Let them talk to you.
MAMA
As you talk to flowers. George will be leaving Earth soon, won’t he, Flower?
FLOWER
Yes, but he’ll be joining you.
MAMA
My son has always been with me. Until 1943, when he died. Seventy-nine years old!
47
FDR
And he got buried next to me, his friend, Booker T. Washington. And an amazing thing
happened, President FDR himself came to the funeral!
BOOKER T
I dedicate $30,000 for the George Washington Carver National Monument where Carver
had spent time in his childhood.
FORD
This dedication marks the first national monument dedicated to an African-American
ROOSEVELT
On his grave, these words were written: He could have added fortune to fame, but caring
for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.
MAMA
My son, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
GEORGE
She seems proud, doesn’t she?
JOE
The Spingarn Medal from the Association for the Advancement of Colored People
FDR
Man of the Year in 1940 by the International Federation of Architects, Engineers,
Chemists, and Technicians.
EDISON
He was inducted in the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame.
FORD
I built you a model of your Missouri slave cabin where you were born. I hope you like it.
GEORGE
You don’t have to say all these nice things. It’s enough to me just to be the Peanut Man!
MAMA
Who can take a legume
Plant it in the ground
Rotate the cotton to better the soil
The Peanut Man Can,
Yes the Peanut Man Can!
The Peanut Man takes all the junk he finds
And discovers a new use for it
48
From child sauce to linoleum
The Peanut Man will retool it
GEORGE
Give me a million dollars
And I won’t off
Offer to send me on expeditions
When you pursue what you love
The wealth comes right with it.
MAMA and GEORGE
When you pursue what you love
The wealth comes right with it
The richest person in the world
Uses his talents to the fullest.
MOSES
The Peanut Man takes all the junk he finds
And discovers its new uses
From chili sauce to linoleum
The Peanut Man can
(GEORGE pins a flower on the FARMER)
ALL
The Peanut Man can!
(All bow. Play is over. Players answer questions.)
FDR
George Washington Carver wasn’t the only black inventor. Before we go today, we’d
like to introduce you to a few important African Americans who made a difference in
history with their inventions.
Madame CJ Walker
Was well aware
There was a special need
For black folks’ hair
So with just two dollars in her pocket to spare
She created shampoo for black hair care!
Daniel Hail Williams
Apprenticed to be a physician
Performed the first open heart surgery
In his patient’s own kitchen.
49
FDR
Sarah Goode realized she needed more space
So discovered a way to put her bed in a new place
With a patent, the first for a black woman, they said,
She invented the folding cabinet bed.
Benjamin Banneker used to take apart watches
Put them together with a tick tock
So it’s no surprise he invented
the very first clock.
Miriam Benjamin knew that customers
At restaurants were not patient
So she put a button on each chair
To buzz the waiter’s station.
M.A. Cherry took a cycle with a seat,
the velocipede, and added a metal frame,
Attached pedals and two new wheels-
Inventing the bicycle, her claim to fame!
Inventors are curious
Persistent overall
Inventors are convinced
No idea is too small.
Inventors solve problems
With creativity it’s true
And this school year…The next inventor could be you!
The End