S. Joe Brown

BROWN

Posted By: Volunteer - Rich Lowe
Date: 6/8/2004 at 18:50:20

Waterloo - Cedar Falls Courier Online Edition
June 8, 2004

Iowa civil rights leader to be featured in Hall of Pride

By The Associated Press

OTTUMWA -- Questions from an Ottumwa High School speech coach led school officials to research the life of alumnus S. Joe Brown, the first black to obtain a Liberal Arts degree from the University of Iowa.

Brown will be featured in the Ottumwa High display in the Iowa Hall of Pride, being built in downtown Des Moines, said Kim Hellige, community programs director for the Ottumwa school district.

Brown's life was a series of firsts.

In 1898, he became the first black to get an undergraduate Liberal Arts degree from the University of Iowa. He obtained his bachelor of law degree in 1901 and finished his master's thesis a year later.

Just three years after that, he argued before the Iowa Supreme Court in a civil rights case -- Humburd v. Crawford. It was the first of several cases he would bring before the state's high court.

He was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in Iowa, helping to establish the state's first chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1915.

"He is truly one of the unrecognized giants of Iowa history," Hal Chase, who teaches African-American history at Des Moines Area Community College, told The Ottumwa Courier. "He verified the American dream for many people."

Brown was born July 6, 1875, in Keosauqua, the youngest of six children. His family moved to Ottumwa in 1885 and his parents died four years later, according to his memoirs, now in the archives of the State Historical Society of Iowa.

He graduated from high school in 1894 and moved to Iowa City, where he got a job as a porter at the Kirkwood Hotel while attending college.

Chase said it is difficult for many Americans to put Brown's life in perspective.

"He had to excel ... He understood far better than anyone living today the discrimination and repression that comes with being an African-American," Chase said. "He took that as a challenge to overcome and obviously he did it."

Hellige said she learned about Brown after asking teachers at Ottumwa High to submit information for the school's display.

"One of our teachers, the person responsible for the debate team, sent me an e-mail and told me about this man, because he had been involved in debate while in high school," Hellige said.

Hellige said many of the people featured in the Ottumwa display are local business leaders, including A. W. Lee, founder of Lee Enterprises Inc., and philanthropists.

"This man made an impact in a larger arena," Hellige said. "Although there might not be a direct impact on Ottumwa, he impacted the rights of black people not only in the state, but probably also throughout the country as well. It definitely deserves being noted."

The Hall of Pride display will help educate people who are unaware of Brown and his contributions.

"This will be a good way to get information out about the role he played this role his link to Ottumwa," Hellige said.