Carver, a Life in Poems

By Marilyn Nelson

Subjects: Auteurs noirs américains, Poésie américaine, African Americans, Biographies, Reading Level-Grade 12, Reading Level-Grade 9, Südstaaten, Waisenkind, Biografie, Reading Level-Grade 8, Reading Level-Grade 7, Children's poetry, American, Afro-American agriculturalists-Poetry, Reading Level-Grade 11, Sklaverei, Newbery Honor, Bildung, American poetry, Agriculturists, Jugendbuch, Poetry, African American agriculturists, History, Reading Level-Grade 10, Agriculteurs noirs américains, Noirs américains, American poetry (collections), 20th century

Description: George Washington Carver was born a slave in Missouri about 1864 and was raised by the childless white couple who had owned his mother. In 1877 he left home in search of an education, eventually earning a master's degree. In 1896, Booker T. Washington invited Carver to start the agricultural department at the all-black-staffed Tuskegee Institute, where he spent the rest of his life seeking solutions to the poverty among landless black farmers by developing new uses for soil-replenishing crops such as peanuts, cowpeas, and sweet potatoes. Carver's achievements as a botanist and inventor were balanced by his gifts as a painter, musician, and teacher. This Newbery Honor Book and Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book by Marilyn Nelson provides a compelling and revealing portrait of Carver's complex, richly interior, profoundly devout life.