The Message of the Flower: The Spiritual Correspondence between Dr. George Washington Carver and Professor Glenn Clark

By Eugenia Huebner

The Message of the Flower is an encouraging story of two men, one a black man from the south and the other a white man from the north, and the oneness they shared together because of their love for their great Creator. It is also a story about how the message of that flower came and called a people and is still calling out to people today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781645591696

Book preview

The Bridge Builder

(Author Unknown)

An old man going a lone highway

Came at evening cold and gray

To a chasm vast, deep and wide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim.

The sullen stream had no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

Old man, said a pilgrim near,

"You are wasting your strength building here;

You never again will pass this way;

You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide,

Why build this bridge at evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head—

Good friend, in the path I have come, he said,

"There followeth after me today

A youth whose feet must pass this way,

This chasm that has been as naught to me

To that fair-headed youth may a pitfall be,

He too, must cross in the twilight dim,

Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

Dr. Carver, Negro Scientist

This chapter begins with the end of Dr. Carver’s life and goes on to demonstrate, by Prof. Clark’s letter to the president of Tuskegee, that even though Dr. Carver is gone, he feels that he can pray now more than ever with greater power. He knows that Dr. Carver is still one with him.

The New York Times, Wednesday, January 6, 1943

DR. CARVER IS DEAD;

NEGRO SCIENTIST

Son of slave Parents who made experiments as Member of Tuskegee Faculty

Inspired By The Lowly

Clay, Sweet Potato, Peanuts lent themselves to his agricultural feats

Tuskegee, Ala. January 5

Dr. George Washington Carver, noted Negro scientist died early tonight in his home at Tuskegee Institute. His age was 78.

Dr. Carver had been in failing health for some months and was confined to his bed for the last ten days.

He became a member of the Tuskegee Institute faculty in 1894 and has been attached to the Negro institution ever since.

Dr. Carver was recognized as one of the outstanding scientists in the field of agricultural research. He discovered scores of uses for such lowly products as sweet potatoes, peanuts and clay. From the South’s red clay and sandy loam, he developed ink pigments, cosmetics, paper, paint, and many other articles.

No Ambition for Riches

Dr. Carver, paying no attention to his clothes and refusing to make money on his discoveries, simply devoted his life to scientific agricultural research, to enable his colored brethren to make a better living from the soil in the South.

He became such an authority on cotton, the peanut and the sweet potato, that he ended with a place among important white men. His name is in Who’s Who in America, and he was accorded a membership in the Royal Society of London.

Who’s Who, lists him as an educator and follows immediately with the information which he supplied that he was born of slave parents on a farm near Diamond Grove, Mo., about 1864; in infancy lost his father and was stolen and carried into Arkansas with mother, who was never heard of again; was brought from captors for a race horse valued at $300 and returned to former home in Missouri.

Because he was a puny boy who got his growth late, he was allowed to run around as a household pet without being put to heavy work. Outdoors he learned about trees, shrubs and insects and liked to paint and draw them. In the kitchen he picked up much knowledge of cooking and of canning fruits and vegetables which later was to serve his people. In the parlor he learned something of music.

Worked Way through School

Until he was almost 20 he did not learn to read and write. That came after he grew up suddenly and struck out for himself. He had seen education at close quarters in a white household and felt he could use it. He worked his way through high school in Minneapolis, Kan. , and later through the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.

He was graduated there with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in 1894, at the age of 30, and was immediately made a faculty member in charge of the college greenhouse and the bacterial laboratory work in systematic botany. Two years later he had earned the degree of Master of Science and made the acquaintance of Booker T. Washington, who then was bringing the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to notice.

He went to Tuskegee in 1896 and stayed there for the remainder of his life, directing the Department of Agricultural Research.

Sand was a great curse then to the Alabama cotton farmer. The short-stalk cotton produced the fattest bolls and the tall-stalk produced the leanest. Yet the short-stalk cotton left the bolls exposed to splashes of sand when it rained. By a crossing process Professor Carver got the fat cotton bolls of the short-stalk cotton to grow on the tall stalks that lifted them out of the sand. Officially in Washington the cross was recognized by the name of Carver’s Hybrid.

Champion of Diversification

After the boll-weevil invasion had brought misery to the one-crop South, Professor Carver addressed himself to the developing the uses of the peanut and the sweet potato and spreading the gospel of diversification with these also as money crops.

He developed more than a hundred different products from the peanut, including milk, ink, flour, breakfast foods, wood stains, face creams and latterly, a medicinal peanut oil which was found helpful in the treatment of infantile paralysis.

When he produced an array of these products before the Ways and Means Committee of Congress in 1921, in support of a protective duty on peanuts, John N. Garner, then a Representative from Texas, pronounced it a most wonderful exhibition.

Professor Carver developed almost as many diversified uses for the sweet potato, from which he produced tapioca, molasses, dyes, coffee, starch, as well as flour.

His researches into the possibility of making rubber from sweet potatoes attracted the attention of Thomas A. Edison, who invited him to move them to Orange, N.J., at a salary representing a princely advance over Tuskegee, Professor Carver declined.

Revelation from God

He likewise declined to accept $100 which a manufacturer sent him in acknowledgment of one of his peanut discoveries which the manufacturer had put to use.

My discoveries come like a direct revelation from God, he said in explanation of his attitude addressing the annual meeting of the Women’s Board of Domestic Missions of the Reformed Church at the Marble Collegiate Church in New York in 1924.

The idea and the method of working out a new product come all together, he continued In half an hour after the idea was revealed to me I produced the yolk of an egg from the Puerto Rican sweet potato.

He traveled through the South, lecturing to farm gatherings on the better cultivation and utilization of common products, receiving attention and applause not only from Negroes but also from white men, who recognized that he could tell them how to better their farming, their living, their health and their prosperity.

In 1923 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded him the Spingarn Medal for discoveries that would change the economic life of the South. In 1935 he was appointed collaborator in the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, in the division of plant mycology and disease survey. He was invited frequently to speak before agricultural classes in the white technical colleges of the South.

A less known side of Professor Carver’s activity was his Bible class at Tuskegee started in 1906 when his office boy and seven other students asked him to teach them the Bible on Sundays. He taught the Bible by impersonating the characters himself. On one occasion he astonished his class when it reached the story of the manna-fed Israelites by producing a variety of the original manna, which he had gathered in the woods about Tuskegee.

Dr. Carver received one of the three Roosevelt Medals for 1939. The next year he gave his life savings of $33,000 (they had been depleted by a bank failure) to establish a foundation for research to creative chemistry. Last summer it was announced that Dr. Carver, an old friend of Henry Ford, would take part in food experiments in the Ford laboratories at Detroit.

February 6, 1943 (letter to Pres. Patterson of Tuskegee Institute from Glenn Clark):

Dear President Patterson,

I feel that I can pray with great power for Tuskegee now as never before for I feel that Dr. Carver in the unseen world is with me, in the prayer, and will be helping and guiding you as he could not do on this earth.

I was with him the last of November, a little over a month before he passed away and our prayer at that time was filled with power. His last words with me were, I will be with you in power on this journey. This third Front to unite all praying people is the beginning of that great spiritual awakening which I prophesied five years ago. I will be with you in the spirit in Washington.

On the evening of January 5th Starr Daily, Glenn Harding and I were holding the last meeting of the Third Front in Washington. For some strange reason, Glenn Harding asked the entire congregational to sing the Hallelujah Chorus a song which only the choirs are accustomed to sing. They sang it with the harmony and power of a great chorus such as St. Olaf’s Choir a great paean to Heaven. It was as though the angels of Heaven were about us, joining us in the singing. It was at that time that old Dr. Carver was preparing to step into the chariot of the Lord, to swing high into Heaven. While Starr Daily was speaking, he was passing away, and when I rose to give the final address of the Washington meetings a power entered into me that was of Heaven itself. I knew that I was not alone, and when the evening ended scores of people who had heard me give the same address before on Levers of Prayer came forward and said they had never heard anything like it—the power coming through transcended anything in my former talks. Yes, Dr. Carver was keeping his promise. He was with us in power in this Third Front.

That night we rode all night in busses to Norfolk, in order to be there in time for the meetings beginning early the next morning. At the Greyhound Depot we took a taxi to the home of a little lady who was to be our host, whom Dr. Carver considered the most spiritual lady he had met in the South. As the Taxi stopped in front of her door, suddenly the radio went on (something I never heard in a taxi before) and out of the sky as it seemed, came a voice, We are bringing you news that Dr. George Washington Carver passed away at 7:30 at Tuskegee last night—one of the world’s greatest chemists, and a man of God.

Just as God adjusted the rain so this beloved saint could be free that afternoon to be with me at Tuskegee, and adjusted his health so he could be with us in Saint Paul and Minneapolis so He seemed to have even timed his passing so he could help us in the climax of our meeting in the Capitol of the United States, and had timed the announcement of his passing so it would come to us in the midst of an especially selected group of his chosen spiritual friends.

Can we not hope and trust that this perfect timing of the right message at the right time to the right people may go with us and that all who are associated together in selflessness may spread the gospel of love and prayer, the gospel that Dr. Carver loved so much and practiced so well, in a way that may be carried to all the people in this beloved nation and to all the people in the world!

Faithfully yours,

Glenn Clark

February 9, 1943 (letter to Glenn Clark from F. D. Patterson, president of Tuskegee Institute):

My dear Mr. Clark:

I deeply appreciate your letter of February 6 in which you state so graphically the experience which was yours on January 5 in connection with the Third Front meeting in Washington. This is most significant and I am sure only those who believe sincerely in the power of prayer are able to have such an experience as you describe.

I appreciate your continuing interest in Tuskegee Institute and your feeling that you will be joined in prayer through spiritual reinforcement from Dr. Carver. Rest assured we shall always welcome your presence on our campus and your continued good wishes for the future of our work. As we attempt to carry the program of this great institution into the future, with so many uncertainties, more and more we come to realize that the hand of Divine guidance must play an important part in our efforts.

With every good wish,

Sincerely yours,

F.D. Patterson

February 10, 1943 (letter to Glenn Clark from Austin W. Curtis):

My dear Dr. Clark:

I was indeed happy to receive your letter which I must say was indeed very encouraging to me. I am aware of the great responsibility that is before me in carrying on Dr. Carver’s great work in the service of humanity.

I will welcome the same relationship with you that existed between you and Dr. Carver, and I hope to maintain our contact. I wish for you to convey to all of your associates and members of your prayer groups that I send my best wishes and ask that they pray that I will be equal to my responsibility, and that I can carry on Dr. Carver’s work for the Great Creator.

Very sincerely yours,

Austin W. Curtis Jr.

Dr. George Washington Carver, the Spiritual Man

We are brothers, all of us, no matter what race or color or condition,

children of the same Heavenly Father. We rise together or we fall together.

—George Washington Carver

To truly understand this story, you will have to cross a bridge and enter into a kingdom full of wonders and adventure. The story is mainly about the incredible life of Dr. George Washington Carver and his communion with his Creator. It is also a story of an incredible lifetime friendship between Dr. George Washington Carver and Prof. Glenn Clark. The spirit between this white man from the north and black man from the south had no color to it. Both were educated in their fields of study in Iowa and served the same heavenly Creator. This is also a story of the connection our church has with this great saint of God and the continuing work of building a bridge.

You may ask: What does a white man, from the north, and a black man, from the south, have in common? I’m about to tell you a story that has spanned the years. It has been hidden but begs to be told. This story is one of destiny, revelation, and great hope.

When you think of Minneapolis, Minnesota, you probably think of the land of ten thousand lakes, tall pine trees reaching the sky, scenes of running water, snow, and cold. You may not know, but it is a city that has been visited by a very great prophet of God, one who not only knew God but was known by him personally. They communed together daily. Early each morning, this humble man would rise and talk to his Father, and his Father would commune with him and reveal things to him. God would give him the answers to many problems in the world today. Carver’s desire was to help the man farthest down.

Many people know of Dr. George Washington Carver, the scientist, and the wonders of his discoveries. I would like to introduce to you Dr. George Washington Carver, the spiritual man who walked with God and knew him. Out of that love relationship came everything else about the man.

Dr. Carver visited Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 6, 1938, at the Lyceum Theatre (The Minneapolis Tribune) and on October 7, 1939, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, and Macalester College, in St. Paul, Minnesota (The Mac Weekly, Macalester College newspaper, and The Carletonian from Carleton College).

The Mac Weekly, Thursday, March 31, 1938, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN

Prof. Clark Will Speak April 8

Glenn Clark, professor of English, has been chosen as one of seven speakers to appear in a series A Crusade for Christ sponsored by the businessmen of Minneapolis, during Holy week.

Prof. Clark will speak Friday evening April 8, in the Lyceum theatre on the subject Seize the Eternal and will conclude the services.

Other prominent speakers in the series are Bishop Edwin Holt Hughes, senior bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church, Washington D.C.; Rev. Fred W. Kerr, St. Andrews church, Montreal, Canada; Dr. George Washington Carver, world famous scientist and member of the Royal Society of Arts, London, from Tuskegee, Alabama; Rev. Charles Wesley Brashares, Methodist Episcopal church, Ann Arbor, Michigan; very Rev. Chester B. Emerson, dean of Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland Ohio and Rev. Gaius Glenn Aitkins, professor of Homiletics, Auburn Theological seminary, Auburn, N.Y. Glenn Harding, Chicago will direct the music.

Professor Glenn Clark will speak before Dr. Clark Keating’s Bible class at the University of Illinois, Sunday morning, April 3.

Dr. Keating was formerly professor of Spanish here at Macalester.

Prof. Clark will be speaking under sponsorship of the Wesley Foundation from the University of Minnesota.

The Minneapolis Journal, April 6, 1938

Savant Defies Illness To Speak in City

Disregarding doctor’s orders, Dr. George Washington Carver, world-famous Negro scientist of Tuskegee Institute came to Minneapolis to speak at 8 p.m. today at the Interdenominational Crusade for Christ series at the Lyceum Theater. He will discuss the Story the Peanut Tells."

Dr. Carver, who once refused $100,000 a year from Thomas A. Edison to work in his factory because he preferred to give his time to helping members of his own race, was ordered to bed immediately after arriving here. Physicians said he is seriously ill.

Born of slave parents on a Missouri farm in 1864, Dr. Carver and his mother were carried away by night raiders when he was 1 year old. His mother never was found, but he was traded back to his former master later for a horse.

A speller he found was Dr. Carver’s only book until he was 10 years old. Endowed with an intense desire and capacity for knowledge, he left his Missouri farm home. At Minneapolis Kan. He received his high school education.

He was graduated at Iowa State College of Agriculture with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1894. He worked in a laundry to pay his expenses. In 1896 he received his Master’s degree, and later a Doctor of Science degree from Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa. That same year Booker T. Washington invited him to become a professor at Tuskegee Institute and he has remained there since.

In more than 40 years as a scientist, Dr. Carver has come to be recognized on a plane with Edison and Luther