George Washington Carver Day of Recognition

Agenda
5:00-5:30 p.m. – Registration/Meet and Greet
5:30-6:30 p.m. – Program
Welcome - Dan Robison, Endowed Dean’s Chair, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Welcome Video Remarks: Reflecting on the Legacy of George Washington Carver
Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, Emeritus President, World Food Prize Foundation
Simon Estes, F. Wendell Miller Distinguished Artist-In-Residence, Iowa State University Department of Music and Theatre
Keynote Address – Amanda Williams, Visual artist and architect, presenting how G.W. Carver invented and patented a way to create a famous blue pigment from clays and how she used his process and pigment for a renewal project in New Orleans and other art experiments.
Performance by Tuskegee University Golden Voices Choir
Remarks by Dr. Mark A. Brown – President of Tuskegee University
Closing Remarks – Dan Robison, Endowed Dean’s Chair, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences


On George Washington Carver Day in Iowa, Carver’s life and legacy live on as a potent symbol of courage, perseverance, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. 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.