Iowa Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Racial equality==== [[File:UnionBlockMtPleasant15.jpg|thumb|The [[Union Block (Mount Pleasant, Iowa)|Union Block]] building, [[Mount Pleasant, Iowa|Mount Pleasant]], scene of early civil rights and women's rights activities]] In the 19th century Iowa was among the earliest states to enact prohibitions against race discrimination, especially in education, but was slow to achieve full integration in the 20th century. In the first decision of the [[Iowa Supreme Court]]β''In Re the Matter of Ralph'',<ref>1 Morris 1 (Iowa 1839)</ref> decided July 1839βthe Court rejected slavery in a decision that found a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War.<ref name="civil rights">{{cite web|url=http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/Public_Information/Iowa_Courts_History/Civil_Rights/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060505082508/http://www.judicial.state.ia.us/Public_Information/Iowa_Courts_History/Civil_Rights/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 5, 2006 |title=Early Civil Rights Cases |publisher=Judicial.state.ia.us |access-date=July 26, 2010 }}</ref> The state did away with racial barriers to marriage in 1851, more than 100 years before the U.S. Supreme Court would ban [[Anti-miscegenation laws|miscegenation statutes]] nationwide.<ref name="ChicagoTrib">[http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-defending-iowa-web,0,2979128.story Gay marriage and Iowa: Why's everyone so surprised?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429060425/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-defending-iowa-web,0,2979128.story |date=April 29, 2009 }}, [[Chicago Tribune]], April 10, 2009</ref> The Iowa Supreme Court decided ''Clark v. The board of directors''<ref>24 Iowa 266 (1868)</ref> in 1868, ruling that racially segregated "separate but equal" schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''.<ref name="civil rights" /> By 1875, a number of additional court rulings effectively ended segregation in Iowa schools.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Brodnax|first=David|year=2004|title=The Equality of Right: Alexander Clark and the Desegregation of Iowa's Public Schools, 1834β1875|journal=Law and Society Association|url=http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/7/4/2/p117420_index.html|access-date=July 22, 2009|archive-date=July 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090721103524/http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/1/7/4/2/p117420_index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Social and housing discrimination continued against Blacks at state universities until the 1950s.<ref>Breaux, Richard M. (2004) "Maintaining a Home for Girls": The Iowa Federation of Colored Women's Clubs at the University of Iowa 1919β1950, ''Cultural Capital and Black Education'' ed. V.P. Franklin and C.J. Savage. Information Age, Greenwich</ref> The Court heard ''Coger v. The North Western Union Packet Co.''<ref>37 Iowa 145 (1873)</ref> in 1873, ruling against racial discrimination in public accommodations 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.<ref name="civil rights" /> In 1884, the Iowa Civil Rights Act apparently outlawed discrimination by businesses, reading: "All persons within this state shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, restaurants, chophouses, eating houses, lunch counters, and all other places where refreshments are served, public conveyances, barber shops, bathhouses, theaters, and all other places of amusement." However, the courts chose to narrowly apply this act, allowing de facto discrimination to continue.<ref>Iowa Civil Rights Commission, [http://www.iowa.gov/government/crc/docs/annual66activities.html Iowa.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603100106/http://www.iowa.gov/government/crc/docs/annual66activities.html |date=June 3, 2010 }}</ref> Racial discrimination at public businesses was not deemed illegal until 1949, when the court ruled in ''[[State of Iowa v. Katz]]'' that businesses had to serve customers regardless of race; the case began when [[Edna Griffin]] was denied service at a Des Moines drugstore.<ref>African-Americans in Iowa, 1838β2005, [http://www.iptv.org/IowaPathways/myPath.cfm?ounid=ob_000238 IPTV.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506232420/http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000238 |date=May 6, 2009 }}</ref> Full racial civil rights were codified under the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965.<ref>Iowa Civil Rights Commission, [http://www.state.ia.us/government/crc/publications/brochures/english_brochure.html State.ia.us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720010217/http://www.state.ia.us/government/crc/publications/brochures/english_brochure.html |date=July 20, 2009 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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