Carver's Legacy

Carver’s story is one of extraordinary resiliency. Born into slavery in Missouri around 1864, he sought higher education in Iowa, at Simpson College and Iowa State University. He was Iowa State’s first Black student, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees. After graduation, he became Iowa State’s first Black faculty member.

Carver left Iowa for the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he spent the rest of his life applying his innovative genius to agriculture. He became world renowned for creating hundreds of products made from peanuts, sweet potatoes and other native Southern crops.

A kind and patient teacher, Carver showed farmers how alternative crops and practices could benefit their bottom line and sustain their land. He took practical knowledge gained from science and delivered it to those working in the fields and rural areas.

Carver died in 1943. He received many honors during his life and after his death, including election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, and an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Iowa State.

It has been said of Carver that he wanted to turn the ugly into the beautiful and the wasteful into the useful, so that even “the poorest of God’s creatures” would be healthier, their homes more comfortable, their surroundings more beautiful and their lives more significant.

In Iowa, on Feb. 1, the reason to celebrate his legacy is to remember and honor George Washington Carver’s work ethic and inspiring innovation, and to help young people understand the extraordinary opportunities in science — and life.

Dr. Frederick Douglas Patterson Legacy

Dr. Frederick Douglas Patterson was the fourth Black graduate of Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Patterson served as the third president of Tuskegee Institute where he founded that school’s veterinary medicine school and the aviation program that became the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame. He is the founder of the United Negro College Fund and the only veterinarian to receive the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Learn more about George Washington Carver, his connections to Iowa State University, to the state of Iowa, and to the nation and world:

• Feb. 1 will be George Washington Carver Day in Iowa
• Watch the livestream of the Feb. 1, 2023, George Washington Carver Day program
• View the readings of Carver's work recited during the 2023 program
• See the list of Carver-inspired touches that were a part of the 2023 program
• George Washington Carver, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Office of Inclusive Excellence
• George Washington Carver Summer Research Internship Program, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
• George Washington Carver, University Library Digital Collections, Iowa State University
• Celebrating George Washington Carver: Artwork in University Museums Collection, Iowa State University
• George Washington Carver: An Uncommon Life
• Simpson College George Washington Carver Day Celebration, Feb. 1, 2023
• George Washington Carver Collection, Dunn Library, Simpson College
• The Legacy of Dr. George Washington Carver, Tuskegee University
• George Washington Carver National Monument, National Parks Service, Diamond, Missouri