Rich Stories of Diversity Timeline.

Three different Americans living in three different generations have voiced the dream of what America could become. This 200+ year experiment in true democracy has had its ups and downs, but suffice to say that there have always been voices like Jefferson, King, Catt, and many others who cry out in the wilderness – beckoning us to rise about our pride, prejudice, and self-consumption.

Here at **Our Iowa Heritage,** we want to do our part as well. That’s why, as we write posts about the history of our state, our county, and our community, we not only want to share the powerful stories of those names most everybody knows, but we also want to strive to bring you those uplifting stories of men and women who, for no other reason than racial or sexual prejudice, have been overlooked in our history.

As our series **Rich Stories of Diversity** grows, we hope this timeline will help you see that here in Iowa, we do have a very rich heritage of those who have gone before us – lighting the way

***Click here to access our Rich Stories of Diversity index.***

pre-1673. Native American tribes make Iowa their home. (2), (3)
1673. With the coming of the white man, Iowa’s pre-historic age ends, starting what archaeologists call Iowa’s historic age (1673-1885). (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)
1701 The Meskwaki (Fox) tribe fights against the French in what is now called the Fox Wars (1712-1735). (2), (3)
1735. Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) tribes flee to Illinois/Iowa Mississippi River Valley, forced from Wisconsin by the French. (2), (3)
1767. Sauk Chief Black Hawk is born in Saukenuk.
1787. Meskwaki Chief Poweshiek is born. (2)

1851. The State of Iowa eliminates a Territorial law banning interracial marriage.
1853. Professor Samuel Bacon arrives in Iowa City to become the leader of the newly-formed, state-sponsored Iowa School for the Blind.
1854. The anti-slavery movement in Iowa takes a big step forward as James W. Grimes is elected Governor of Iowa.
1854. Meskwaki Chief Poweshiek dies in Kansas.
1855. Classes begin at the State University of Iowa, admitting both men and women on an equal basis. The 1856-57 student body numbered 124 – 93 men, 41 women.
1856. George D. Woodin and others open up the Lane Trail, part of the Underground Railroad across Iowa.
1856. The General Assembly of Iowa passes an act permitting Native Americans still living in Iowa to remain here, particularly in Tama County.
1856. Alexander Levi, who came to Dubuque in 1833, organizes Iowa’s first Jewish congregation, meeting in a rented hall.
1857. The Sauk and Fox Tribes (Meskwaki) return to Iowa, buying 80 acres in Tama County. (2)
1857. Iowa’s second state constitution is written, stating at its outset, “All men are, by nature, free and equal…” This phrase was amended to include women in 1998. The 1857 constitution also banned slavery, but limited voting to “Every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty one years…” The word “white” was struck in 1868.
1858. In 1848, two old-school Democrats who supported slavery were appointed as Iowa’s first U.S. Senators, but by 1858, both were gone – replaced by two new faces who better represented Iowa’s anti-slavery viewpoint. (2), (3)
1859. With the help of Iowa City’s William Penn Clarke, John Brown, the abolitionist, networks through Iowa, via the Underground Railroad, on his way east to Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where his death serves as a catalyst to the Civil War. (2), (3), (4)

1861. Governor Kirkwood calls for Iowa citizens to join the Union Army’s effort in the Civil War.
1862. The Sisters of Mercy (BVM) open St. Agatha’s Women’s Seminary in Iowa City and over the next fifty years (1862-1911) offer women one of the nation’s finest opportunities in equal education.
1863. Sgt. Major Alexander Clark of Muscatine presents troop flag to 1st Colored Regiment of Iowa in St. Louis as they head southward into the Civil War.
1863. President Abraham Lincoln issues his Emancipation Proclamation.
1865. Photographer Isaac Wetherby takes iconic photo of Old Capitol memorial service for President Abraham Lincoln. (2), (3), (4), (5), (6)
1865. As the Civil War ends, more African-Americans settle in Iowa City – building simple homes on Blocks 96-99 on the riverfront. (2)
1867. The United States government allows the Meskwaki living in Iowa to receive federal annuity payments for the first time.
1868. The Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of Alexander Clark and his family, when Muscatine school board refuses to allow their daughter, Susan, to attend a public school. (2)
1868. The African-American community in Iowa City starts Zion AME Church (later renamed Bethel AME). (2)
1869. Quaker activist Joseph A. Dugdale issues a call for a state convention to organize the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association in Mt. Pleasant – 1,200 people attend.
1869. Iowa Supreme Court rules that women may not be denied the right to practice law in Iowa and admits Arabella A. Mansfield to the bar – the first woman in the United States to be granted a law license.

1870. The University of Iowa opens a medical school and admits both men and women.
1871. Amelia Jenks Bloomer from Council Bluffs becomes the first president of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association. Over the next 50 years, Bloomer works diligently for a woman’s right to vote and becomes famous for wearing comfortable skirts and pants which bear her name.
1873. Judge Joseph M. Beck, Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court rules in favor of Emma Coger, an African American woman who was wrongfully discriminated against on a Mississippi RIver boat in September 1872. (2)
1873. The State University of Iowa becomes one of the first colleges in America to award a law degree to a woman – Mary B. Hickey Wilkinson.
1875. Emma Haddock of Iowa City becomes the first woman admitted to practice law before the United States federal courts. Three years later, the Iowa Supreme Court appoints Haddock to examine law students for admission to the bar.
1876. The Boerner family, immigrants from Prussia, opens Boerner Pharmacy – one of Iowa City’s first drug stores. From its new location on Washington Street (1883), Boerner’s will serve Iowa City for 63 years.
1876. Jennie McCowen becomes one of the first women to graduate from the University of Iowa Medical Department. In 1884, she wrote, “In no state has it been more freely conceded that human interests are not one but many, and that the work of the world, broad and varied, must fall not upon one sex, nor upon one class, but that each individual, in return for benefit received, is in honor bound to bear his or her share of the burden.”
1879. Alexander Clark, Jr. becomes the first African American graduate of SUI School of Law – his father, Alexander Clark, Sr. follows in his footsteps in 1884.
1879. Iowa General Assembly removes the words “white male” from the statute governing qualifications to practice law.

1883. Carrie C. Lane (Catt), age 24, becomes school superintendent of Mason City schools, one of the first women in US to hold such a position.
1886: The University’s first bachelor’s thesis, “A Brief Description of Nine Species of Hepaticae Found in the Vicinity of Iowa City,” was written by a woman, Mary F. Linder. One year later, Iowa’s first master’s thesis, “The History of the Common Frog,” was also written by a woman, Rose B. Ankeny Edgar.
1888. George Washington Carver relocates to Winterest, Iowa, enrolling at Simpson College in 1890, and becoming the first African-American student and faculty member at ISU (1891-1896).

1900. Carrie Chapman Catt becomes the first president of the National Woman Suffrage Association.
1905. George H. Woodson, an attorney from Buxton, Iowa, co-founds the Niagara Movement. It later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
1906. Iowa Supreme Court holds in State v. Amana Society that the Society had not violated state corporate law in establishing a system of communistic ownership and management of property based on its religious beliefs.
1907. Lulu M. Johnson, Johnson County’s namesake, is born in Gravity, Iowa.

1912: The first African American women to graduate from the State University of Iowa were Letta (Cary) Bledsoe and Adah (Hyde) Johnson. Both were from Des Moines and received their degrees from the College of Liberal Arts on July 26.
1915. The NAACP organizes an Iowa chapter in Des Moines – S. Joe Brown is the first president.
1918. Mildred Whitcomb, of Ottumwa, Iowa, is named editor of The Daily Iowan, becoming the newspaper’s first female editor and one of the first women to head an American college daily newspaper.

1920. The hard work of Iowa’s own Carrie C. Catt and others culminates in the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote.
1920. The last homes and businesses located on Blocks 96-99 on the Iowa River – west of Old Capitol – are scheduled for removal – making way for the new SUI Student Union. (2)
1921. All-American Duke Slater leads Iowa to a mythical national championship in college football, highlighted by a 10-7 victory over Knute Rockne’s Fighting Irish.
1921. Carrie C. Catt becomes the first woman to deliver a commencement address at Iowa State University.
1922. Black businessman J.B. Morris buys The Iowa Bystander newspaper. With the help of the NAACP, his wife and his brother, Morris launches the Bystander statewide.
1922. Voters elect May Francis as Iowa Superintendent of Public Instruction, and she becomes the first woman elected to a statewide office in Iowa.
1924: Eve Drewelow earned Iowa’s first Master of Arts degree in painting, following the University’s decision two years earlier to accept creative work in lieu of theses for graduate degrees.
1925. A group of attorneys, including two Iowans — George H. Woodson and S. Joe Brown — found the National Bar Association. The NBA was the first association of African American legal professionals.
1926. Carrie C. Catt is featured on the cover of Time magazine.
1928. Carolyn Pendray becomes the first woman elected to the Iowa Legislature. She was elected to the House in 1928 and the Senate in 1932.

1931. Allyn and Helen Lemme return to Iowa City – opening their home to African American SUI students who are shut out of dorms due to racial prejudice.
1932. Viola (Ola) Babcock Miller becomes the first woman elected Iowa Secretary of State. Miller was an early woman’s suffrage leader in the state. In 1935, she convinces the Legislature that a statewide law enforcement agency is needed, particularly to enforce highway safety laws. The Iowa State Patrol is created in 1935 and placed under Miller’s control.
1934. Racial targeting of All-American Ozzie Simmons at Iowa’s Homecoming game raises tension between Iowa and Minnesota. The two governor’s cool things off with a friendly wager in 1935 using a prized hog named Floyd of Rosedale. (2)
1934. The first mosque in North America opens in Cedar Rapids, known as “The Mother Mosque.”

1941: Lulu Merle Johnson became the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. from an Iowa institution and among about a dozen black women in the nation to achieve such status at that time.
1948. USPS celebrates George Washington Carver, who was educated in Iowa, and made a huge contribution to the world of agriculture and science. A second commemorative is released in 1998 as well.
1948. Civil rights activists picket outside Katz Drug Store in downtown Des Moines, where Edna Griffin was refused service at the lunch counter because she was black.

1961. Simon Estes, music student at SUI, meets vocal instructor Charlie Kellis, who opens doors for Estes to become the world-renowned opera singer he is today.
1966. National protests, sit-ins and marches, coinciding with the construction of I-235 directly through a bustling black neighborhood, leads to the Good Park Rebellion in Des Moines.
1968. After attending a Black Panther Party rally in California, Mary Rhem, 19, returns to Des Moines, starting the first Black Panther branch in Iowa.
1969. Lolly Parker Eggers comes in staff at the Iowa City Public Library. Over the next twenty-five years she becomes a true mover-n-shaker for women’s rights across Johnson County.
1969. One year after her death, the Iowa Art Guild publishes Sketches of Historic Iowa – a collection of art from Harriet P. Macy – an art teacher from Des Moines – 38 years – who taught the beauty of diversity to all of her students.

1970. Iowa City opens a new elementary school, naming it after long-time civil rights activist and community leader, Helen Lemme.
1970. The University of Iowa becomes the first state university to recognize the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Allied Union.
1978. James Alan McPherson becomes the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction with his collection of essays, “Elbow Room.”
1980. The Iowa Supreme Court decides that a child custody order could not be modified merely because the custodial parent was in an interracial relationship. This decision came four years before the U.S. Supreme Court would reach the same conclusion on federal grounds.
1986. Justice Linda K. Neuman becomes the first woman to serve on the Iowa Supreme Court and Jo Ann Zimmerman – the first female Iowa Lieutenant Governor.
1990. Bonnie J. Campbell becomes the first female Iowa Attorney General.
1990. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 becomes law. Iowa’s U.S. Senator, Tom Harkin, is one of the authors of the bill.
1991. Union Park – the green space just south of IMU – is renamed for Philip G. Hubbard – SUI’s first African-American professor. (2)
1992. Women’s suffrage leader Carrie C. Catt is honored with the highest award for an Iowa citizen, The Iowa Award.
1992. The Mid-City Vision Coalition advocates better inner-city neighborhoods in Des Moines.
1996. Simon Estes is given The Iowa Award, the highest honor given to an Iowa citizen. (2)
1998. USPS celebrates Ioway chief, White Cloud.