NFR Project: ‘George Washington Carver at Tuskegee
Institute’
Filmed by C. Allen Alexander
1937
12:21
George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was one of the top agricultural scientists in history. Born into slavery, he persevered and got the kind of education he deserved. He received his master’s degree in 1896.
That same year, Booker T. Washington, head of the historically Black Tuskegee Institute, induced Carver to join the faculty. For the next 47 years, Carver taught there. He researched the causes of soil depletion – the encroachment of infertility – and championed the rotation of crops to replenish the land with nutrients. He experimented with and advocated the use of crops such as peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans, and others. He wrote many instructional papers to aid the farmers, and in particular the Black and impoverished farmers, to improve their farms and their lives.
The color footage we see was taken by an amateur – a surgeon named C. Allen Alexander. It is grainy but serviceable 16-millimeter film. In it, we see Dr. Carver in his office, outside his office, and walking around the grounds of Tuskegee. We also see the school’s marching band, and watch a bit of a football game. All in all, a completely typical university experience.
The film reads just like the home movies of the time – extended takes, medium shots, no real editing to speak of. Alexander did this filming on the fly. It is remarkable to see Carver in the flesh, but more importantly it speaks to the advances of Black culture that a place like Tuskegee provides. Here are college students, researchers, administrators – all Black. In a time when segregation and racial prejudice dominated the relations between Black people and white, it must have been heartening to see an institution devoted to improving Black lives succeeding.
The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain.
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