Welcome to the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation

The Black Law Student Association and Drake OUTLaws invite you #TakeAWalk with your friends, family, and fellow professionals TODAY at 10 a.m.

#TakeAWalk to the National Bar Association Memorial, “A Monumental Journey," for a brief program. As we proceed, we will walk alongside familiar and unfamiliar faces to further the dialogue about racial justice and equality.

Meet Iowa State Capitol. ... See MoreSee Less

Posted 3 weeks ago

Charles P. Howard, Sr. was one of the 12 African-American attorneys who helped to found the National Bar Association.

Mr. Howard served in World War I in France as a First Lieutenant, having been trained in the segregated Black Army division in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Howard received his law degree in 1922 at Drake University Law School. He had an illustrious sports career and was an accomplished college athlete, teacher and coach. As a first year law student in 1920, Howard passed the bar examination, was admitted to practice law in Iowa, and defended a client in a first-degree murder charge, with an acquittal. A brilliant lawyer and outstanding crusader, he saved more than 75 men from the gallows. Howard co-founded the National Negro Publishers Association, because black newsmen were not welcomed in national publishing associations.

By 1928, he was a county commissioner, prosecuting attorney, and publisher of The Iowa Observer. In 1948, Howard was the first black keynote speaker at the Progressive National Convention in Philadelphia that ratified the candidacy of Henry A. Wallace for U.S. president. He traveled throughout the world and promoted African unity with heads of states in Africa. He was a close friend of the celebrated American singer and Civil Rights advocate Paul Robeson.

For more information on the 12 courageous African-American attorneys who — in Des Moines, IA — changed the course of American history and founded the National Bar Association and the sculpture "A Monumental Journey" that honors these brave men and women please visit:

dsmpublicartfoundation.org/public-artwork/a-monumental-journey

👉 Iowa Juneteenth 2020
👉 Iowa Juneteenth ... See MoreSee Less

Posted 4 weeks ago

S. Joe Brown was one of the 12 African-American attorneys who helped to found the National Bar Association.

Mr. Brown was the founder and first president of the Des Moines Branch of the NAACP, the oldest NAACP unit west of the Mississippi River.

In 1848, Brown was the first African-American graduate from the University of Iowa in liberal arts (earning Phi Beta Kappa) and from the University of Iowa Law School. Brown formed a partnership with George Woodson and practiced law in Des Moines. Most of Brown’s work involved civil, probate, and title matters. He successfully argued the first race discrimination case before the Iowa Supreme Court in 1906. He was a member of the commission that drafted the nationally noted Des Moines Plan of city government in 1907. After serving in the army during World War I, Brown secured a building in Des Moines in 1918 and started the Park Street Army YMCA for black soldiers. Following the war the YMCA continued at 12th and Crocker Streets in Des Moines.

For more information on the 12 courageous African-American attorneys who — in Des Moines, IA — changed the course of American history and founded the National Bar Association and the sculpture "A Monumental Journey" that honors these brave men and women please visit:

dsmpublicartfoundation.org/public-artwork/a-monumental-journey/

👉 Iowa Juneteenth 2020
👉 Iowa Juneteenth ... See MoreSee Less

Posted 4 weeks ago