Did George Washington Carver get spanked?

Answer 1

Historically, almost all Christian parents followed The Bible's admonishment, "Spare the rod, spoil the child." Though I found no reference online that says whether George Washington Carver's parents spanked him as a child, we can hypothesize that he likely was spanked at least some time during his childhood. This hypothesis may be supported by information found in the book "George Washington Carver: Scientist and Symbol" by Linda O. McMurry, page 109, which describes letters that former students sent to George Washington Carver, their former teacher. Supposedly, Carver jokingly teased the boys he taught, threatening to give them a good spanking, beating, or 'thrashing'. However, Carver never carried out such threats, except playful "scuffles" with his students after threating to spank them. e.g. He was horsing-around, pretending to give the student a paddling. At the time, such horse-play was considered undignified and distateful behavior. Faculty members chastised Carver and thought he was too close to his students. Faculty frowned on his warm, close, and personable feelings for those Carver called "his children"--his students. Since students then were all boys, Faculty and others rumored and gossipped that Carver was "homosexual", just because of his fondness for and closeness with "his children". However, Carver had a long career teaching children, including the sons and daughters of other Faculty Members.