Plow through your research in the Hawkeye State. Hear “Iowa,”
and if you're like most people, corn comes to mind. After all,
it's no secret the state, with its rolling, fertile hills, is
tops in corn and runner-up in soybean production. But the
Hawkeye State is more than farms: Historically, it's led the
nation in education and women's rights. An October 1884 Annals
of Iowa article boasts about the state's high number of
schoolhouses and excellent attendance record, as well its
progressive attitude toward women. Its author, citing the 1880
US census, claims more than 80,000 Iowa women worked outside the
home. And Iowan Carrie Chapman Cart began crusading for suffrage
in 1900. She's in the company of well-known musicians, writers,
actors and political figures, including painter Grant Wood,
comedian Johnny Carson, western movie star John Wayne, first
lady Mamie Eisenhower and frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody. As the
highway signs say, Iowa offers “fields of opportunities” — not
only for farmers and other natives,