Wax Museum Day

The premise: Second-graders choose a famous African-American and act out a "Wax Museum" presentation where they embody that person. Visitors place a coin in a cup in front of them, and they go into their act. When it's over, they quickly resume their frozen positions.

There were three different versions of Tyra Banks, but only one George Washington Carver (right, played by Evan Carlson). Here, he is interviewed by an intrepid young reporter (left, Jackson). It's kinda hard to hear over the two second-graders playing Michael Jackson a few spots down, so below is a transcript.



GWC: Hi, My Name is George Washington Carver. I was a famous African American Scientist.

REPORTER: George Washington Carver was an American scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor whose studies and teaching revolutionized agriculture in the southern United States. The day and year of his birth are unknown but he is believed to have been born before slavery was abolished in Missouri. When you first introduced yourself to someone, what did you introduce yourself as?

GWC: Carver’s George.

REPORTER: Was this because you were born as a slave, and slaves had no last names?

GWC: Yes it was.

REPORTER: You were very smart. Were you accepted the first time you applied to college?

GWC: No, they would not take black students.

REPORTER: Were you ever able to go to college?

GWC: Yes, I went to Simpson College when I was 25. I was the only black student there at the time.

REPORTER: When you went to graduate school, did you also teach at Simpson College?

GWC: Yes, I taught about plants.

REPORTER: The farmers in the south only planted cotton, and that hurt the soil, so how did you help?

GWC: I told them to grow peanuts and sweet potatoes because they gave nutrients to the soil.

REPORTER: Were you ever a professor and scientist with a laboratory, and where?

GWC: Yes, I worked at Tuskegee University.