Iowa Civil Rights History

Send us Fan Mail On September 21, 2005, the court asked a 19-yr old Kenneth Nixon if he had anything to say to the court before he was sentenced to life in prison for 2 counts of murder, 4 counts of attempted murder, and 1 count of arson. Ken told the judge and the court “your honor, you are about to sentence an innocent man to prison for the rest of his life for the crime he didn’t commit”. The j...

Send us Fan Mail The Henderson Lewelling House also known as Lewelling Quaker Museum (LQM) is located in Salem, Iowa about 20 miles from the Missouri border.  Henderson Lewelling was born in a Quaker family in 1809 in North Carolina, later his family moved to Indiana. In 1837 he moved his wife Elizabeth and 4 children to Salem, Iowa.   As an abolitionist, Henderson Lewelling represented the more r...

Send us Fan Mail The Henderson Lewelling House also known as Lewelling Quaker Museum (LQM) is located in Salem, Iowa about 20 miles from the Missouri border.  Henderson Lewelling was born in a Quaker family in 1809 in North Carolina, later his family moved to Indiana. In 1837 he moved his wife Elizabeth and 4 children to Salem, Iowa.   As an abolitionist, Henderson Lewelling represented the more r...

Send us Fan Mail When the issue of slavery became the most contentious issue in the country, the courage to act was put to a test, Iowans had a choice, either to stand on the sideline and watch or to act. Some Iowans chose to act.  Abolitionists were people who detested the institution of slavery and wanted to end it immediately.  In this episode; Dave Holmgren a historian from the Iowa Historical...

Send us Fan Mail In 1993  James Clark, Johnny Brown, Marvin Steward, Bebe Davis, Thomas Levi Sr, and Thomas Moore from  Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids Iowa came up with the idea to start the African - American Museum in the state of Iowa. They wanted to preserve, exhibit and teach black history in the state of Iowa.  Since its inception, the Museum has had 4 executive directors...

Send us Fan Mail Founded in 2018 in Des Moines, Iowa.  Spark Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that every student in the community is able to obtain books that they are personally interested in, free of cost. Spark is also, focusing on reducing the reading achievement gap between high and low-income students and summer reading loss by ensuring every student has the opportunity to build their ver...

Send us Fan Mail In  1879 Alexander Clark Jr, the last-born of Honorable Alexander Clark Sr graduated from the University of Iowa with a law degree and he was the first black person to do so in the state of Iowa. In 1884 at age of 57 Alexander  Clark Sr the father of Alexander Clark Jr graduated from the same  University also with a law degree and he became the second black man to earn a law degre...

Send us Fan Mail Alexander G. Clark, arguably the most influential black man to ever lived in the state of Iowa in the 19th century. Some historians believe that he was probably the second most influential black man after Frederick Douglass that no one knows about. Alexander Clark was born in 1826, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, to John Clark a former slave, and Rebecca Darnes Clark. At age 1...

Send us Fan Mail On October 8, 1980, a man named William Beeman from Muscatine, Iowa was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Michele Winkel.  His lawyer,  Erica Nichols Cook who is the current director of the wrongful conviction Division, at Iowa State Public Defender, believes her client is innocent.  She has been fighting for his release for a few yrs.  Erica sat down with me to discus...

Send us Fan Mail In America, sometimes innocent people are investigated, charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison for crimes they haven't committed and ended up spending half of their lives behind bars before they could be exonerated.   In this episode, I sat down with Erica Nichols Cook, director of the wrongful conviction Division at Iowa State Public Defender. Erica is on a missi...

Send us Fan Mail The Mother Mosque of America, situated at 1335 9th St in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, holds the distinction of being the FIRST and oldest surviving place of worship for Muslims in North America. Despite being constructed during the Great Depression, the mosque was built with the help of community members and officially completed on February 15, 1934. Following the construction of the mosqu...

Send us Fan Mail As the free state came into the union in 1846, its bordering state of Missouri was a slave state. When the issue of slavery became the most contentious issue in the country, the courage to act for Iowans was put to test, Iowans had a choice to make, either to stand on the sideline and watch or to act. Some Iowans chose to act and the Iowa Underground Railroad was born. UGRR was a...

Send us Fan Mail As the free state came into the union in 1846, its bordering state of Missouri was a slave state. When the issue of slavery became the most contentious issue in the country, the courage to act for Iowans was put to test, Iowans had a choice to make, either to stand on the sideline and watch or to act. Some Iowans chose to act and the Iowa Underground Railroad was born. UGRR was a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode;  I sat down with Pastor Robert Radcliff from Riverside friends church in Mason City, Iowa. Riverside is a Quaker church. Pastor Robert discusses Quaker's history, faith, past, and where the organization stands today in the fight for civil rights. As Iowa joined the Union as a free state in 1846 it also attracted people with anti-slavery views to the state, no...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley touch on George Floyd, the relationship between police and black men in Iowa/America, his idea on how to build trust, and a better relationship between black men and police officers. Discussion on defunding and abolishing police. Discussion on how to unify the country.   Thank you for listening. For any questions, suggestions,...

Send us Fan Mail Conversation with Jeff Brinkley, a 25yr veteran in law enforcement, he is the current Mason City  Chief of Police. Jeff has been with Mason City Police Department since 2016, he is the 21st chief in the history of the force. In this episode, Jeff explains why he wanted to be a police officer, why he still loves it, the challenges he faces as a police officer, and how can the publi...

Send us Fan Mail St John Baptist Church was once a vibrant black church in Mason City, Iowa. Today is a historic church building at 715 6th St SW. James Thomas Jeffries,  Everet's father, was instrumental in the building of the church. Construction of the church started in 1937.  As one of the surviving members of the church, Everet is taking us down memory lane on how it all started. Thank y...

Send us Fan Mail Everet Jeffries was born in the mid-'30s in Mason City, Iowa, attended Mason City High school, and graduated in 1954. A grandson of a slave.  As a young black man growing up in the '40s and ’50s in Mason City, Iowa, Jeffries shares his life story and experiences growing up in a small-town Iowa and how they shaped his life. Now at age 84 he is looking back and gives us wi...

Send us Fan Mail  Welcome to Iowa Civil Rights History Podcast where we discuss the contributions the state of Iowa and Iowans has made to advance the civil rights movement.  From its inception in 1838 & statehood in 1846, Iowa had its shares of wins and losses when it came to civil rights, but there were more wins than losses, in some incidents Iowa was way ahead of the nation. On the Iowa Ci...