Toward A Universal Suffrage > Leaving A Legacy
Leaving A Legacy
African American women in Iowa did not stop at the ballot box. They continued the hard work toward equity in all facets of life. Building on the legacy of those that went before them, these women and many others continued the work of the suffragists.
Photos courtesy the African American Museum of Iowa.
GRACE MORRIS ALLEN JONES
TEACHER, ADVOCATE, AUTHOR
January 7, 1876 – 1928
Grace Morris Allen Jones was born in Keokuk. She was an educator and taught at schools in northern Missouri and Illinois. She founded the Grace M. Allen Industrial School in Burlington, an integrated school. Mrs. Jones later established the Piney Woods Country Life School in Piney Woods, Mississippi with her second husband, Laurence C. Jones.
Mrs. Jones was also an active participant in clubs to advance women of color. She served as President of the Mississippi State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs from 1920 to 1924. Then, she served as a statistician for the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs in 1925.
Mrs. Jones was the granddaughter of was Charlotta Pyles, an abolitionist and speaker who settled in Keokuk after being freed from slavery. Mrs. Pyles’ youngest daughter, Mary Ellen, was the mother of Mrs. Jones.
Photo courtesy the Iowa Women’s Archives.
EDNA GRIFFIN
The “Rosa Parks of Iowa”
October 23, 1909 – February 8, 2000
“It was not hard for me to stand up. I felt if things didn't change, the world would come to an end.”
Edna M. Griffin was born in Lexington, Kentucky and moved to Des Moines in 1947. The following year, Mrs. Griffin was told she was not allowed to use a soda fountain at Katz Drug Store in a building that was known as the Flynn building. She picketed the store for two months and won a civil suit against the owner for violating the Iowa public accommodations laws. It was renamed the Edna Griffin Building to mark the 50th anniversary of her protests.
Edna Griffin received a number of honors and recognition for her work in civil rights. In 1988, the Mayor of Des Moines, Preston Daniels, declared that May 15 be Edna Griffin Day. The Edna M. Griffin Memorial Bridge is a pedestrian bridge located over Interstate 235 in Des Moines.
Photo courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa.
WILLIE STEVENSON GLANTON, J.D.
First African American woman elected to the Iowa General Assembly
March 19, 1922 - July 6, 2017
Willie Stevenson Glanton aspired to be a lawyer when she was a child. She attended the Robert H. Terrell Law School. In the summer of 1951, Mrs. Glanton came to Iowa two weeks after she married Luther T. Glanton Jr., who was the first African American judge in Iowa.
She passed the Bar Exam in 1953 and was only the second African American woman to be admitted to the Iowa Bar Association, preceded only by Gertrude Durden Rush.
Ms. Glanton was the first African American woman elected to an Iowa General Assembly. She represented the 37th district from 1965 until 1967. After her term, she worked as a civil rights lawyer until her retirement in 1987. She was the first African American woman to serve as president of the Iowa chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
She was also the first African American woman to serve on the Des Moines City Council when she was an interim member in 1985.
Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Human Rights, Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.
VIOLA GIBSON
Sept. 6, 1905 - June 1989
Ms. Gibson also studied at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and was ordained a minister in 1954. She became a pastor and served for more than twenty years in Cedar Rapids.
Reverend Gibson’s faith gave purpose and determination to the numerous civic and community activities in which she participated. Her community involvement spanned more than seventy years and made her a champion of human and civil rights for all.
Her many accomplishments include being a founding member of the Cedar Rapids Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1942. She set up the first adult evening classes on Black history in Iowa. Rev. Gibson also advocated for the teaching of African American history in the Cedar Rapids community schools.
In 1970, the Viola Gibson Park was dedicated, and in 2002, the Cedar Rapids Community School District opened the Viola Gibson School in her honor.
Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Human Rights, Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.
RUBY SUTTON
November 16, 1932 - September 18, 2015
Ruby L. Sutton was a champion of social justice. She moved to Dubuque in 1959 from Louisiana. Her family was one of only five African-American families in the city at the time. Though she faced discrimination, Sutton chose to stay and work to make Dubuque a welcoming community for people of color.
Through both her work and volunteer involvement, she touched thousands of people’s lives. Ms. Sutton served for 36 years as the outreach manager of the Operation New View Community Action Agency and 21 years on the Dubuque Human Rights Commission. She played a pivotal role in the formation of the Dubuque Community Advisory Panel.
Ms. Sutton was a tireless community activist, and a source of inspiration, motivation, and empowerment. She held many board and leadership positions in community organizations. She received the NAACP’s First Humanitarian Award in 1989, which was later renamed in her honor, and the Friends of Iowa Civil Rights Award in 2000.