Biographies of Black ISC Students: M-Z

Since its founding in 1858 as Iowa Agricultural College & Model Farm, Iowa State University has allowed Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to enroll as students. Iowa State's first Black student, George Washington Carver, enrolled in classes in 1891. At that time, the question of where Black students could live while enrolled at the college became a concern, but it was left largely unaddressed by the institution until after World War II. Prior to that time, BIPOC students at Iowa State College (ISC) were kept from rooming on campus by an unwritten policy that required Black students to room together. This requirement was difficult to meet when so few Black students attended the college at any given time. Just how many Black students enrolled at Iowa State at any given time is an open question. As late as 1926, ISC had only 13 Black students registered during the regular session and had just graduated its first Black woman, Willa Juanita Ewing, according to The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races (1926). Ewing, writing to her degree-granting department, told readers of the "Horticultural Annual Newsletter" of 1937 that "At Ames what few colored people live there are apt to think thirty or forty colored students coming there to school are an awfully lot of people" and that "forty or even fifty" enrolled each summer in classes, many more than the 13 during her senior year. Yet, most people, when pressed, are likely to know of only two Black Iowa State students: George Carver and Jack Trice.

The list of students below is a work in progress as the project team seeks to identify all Black students who attended Iowa State College up to 1940 and map their residences while in school. Many students listed below lived in homes featured on the introductory map in this collection:  Residences of Black ISC Students to 1940 . Some students listed have been included although no record of their in-session residence has been found to date. The names and lives of all these students deserve to be illuminated as an important part of the history of Iowa State just as are the names "Carver" and "Trice." Impressive Black Iowa Staters span the decades of the early part of the twentieth century and their stories merit recognition.

Throughout this story map collection, you will find the terms "Negro" and "Colored" used in quoted material and in the names of many HBCUs. These terms are meant to accurately reflect the words of the sources and the names of the HBCUs at the time the ISC students had connections to those institutions. When referring to advancements at HBCUs credited to Iowa State graduates or enrollees, the story map will reflect the names of the institutions appropriate to the time the advancement was made. The term "Black" is used more often than "African American" in recognition of the few Black ISC students from outside the country.

The project team is continuing their research on these early Iowa State students. If you have information to share about their lives or their residences while at Iowa State, please contact the Project Lead, Dr. Gloria J. Betcher, at gbetcher@iastate.edu. We want to hear from you.

Many people and organizations have put in time on this project, supplying research material, researching, writing, photographing, uploading, and editing maps to bring these ISC students into focus. All contributors have our sincere thanks and appreciation for the work they did and the contributions they made to the project. Contributors, in alphabetical order, include the following: Ames Branch of the NAACP, Ames History Museum, Greg Bailey, Doug Biggs, Robb Chapman, City of Ames Electric Services, City of Ames Public Works Department, Edna Clinton, Wayne Clinton, Alex Fejfar, Andrea Gronau, Iowa State University Digital Scholarship and Initiatives, Iowa State University Special Collections and Archives, Becky Jordan, Hannah Scates Kettler, Donald Kom, Ben McConville, Erin Ridnour, Anita Rollins, Anne Shipp, Melanie Shipp, Arie Sirotiak, Story County Recorder's Office, Kayonna Topp, Rhys Walker, Nicole Wilson, Sharon Wirth, Margaret Wolfe, and historic preservation students in the Community and Regional Planning class, CRP 511 Documenting the Historic Built Environment, Fall 202: Aminat, Emily, Jacob, Jacob, Kyle, Lighton, Sarah, Shifa, Sydney, and Taylor. Special thanks go to Shaina V. Destine, whose HBCU Connections at Iowa State University was an invaluable starting point for this project.

• A record of the Negro at college 1926. (1926, August). The crisis: A record of the darker races, p. 174.
• Ewing, W. J. (1937). Ewing, Willa Juanata (sic), M.S. 1935, Alabama State Teachers College, Montgomery, Ala. Horticultural Annual Newsletter, 12, n.p.

Clicking on a link below will take you to a short biography of the named student. To see all students, simply scroll down this page. To see students with last names A-L use the navigation at the top of this page or  Click Here .

 A. W. Madison  |  W. G. Madison  |  W. G. Madison, Jr.  |  J. J. Mark  |  L. A. Marshall  |  R. L. Martin  |  H. G. McGuire  |  R. A. Munday  |

 J. R. Otis  |  A. E. Owens  |

 P. C. Parks  |  F. D. Patterson  |  B. L. Perry, Jr.  |  L. A. Potts  |

 E. E. Renfrow  |  S. A. Richardson  |  K. E. Rodgers  |  H. J. Romm  |  A. L. Ross  |

 J. W. Shoals  |  J. B. Small  |  C. S. Smith  |  H. Smith  |  Z. P. Smith Price  |  K. G. Stewart  | 

 M. Stubblefield  |  G. M. Sullivan  |  J. R. Sweatt  |

 M. E. Thomasson  |  C. S. Trice  |  J. G. Trice  |  H. L. Tutt |

 V. V. Walker  |  W. T. Wells  |  T. W. Whibby  |  G. J. Willoughby  |  C. W. Woods  |