Reminding Iowans about Iowa’s Legacy as a Leader in Civil Rights:
The Case of Alexander Clark
The Alexander Clark Foundation, headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa, plays a crucial role in reminding Iowans about our legacy as a leader in upholding the honor, dignity, and respect that ought be given to all people. In 1868, a black man by the name of Alexander Clark, was deeply disturbed by the fact that the nearby public school would not allow his daughter Susan to attend — simply because her skin tone was a different shade. Instead the school insisted she travel across town to the school that was designated for black folk, which of course had less funding than the so-called public school (which wasn’t open to the public, ironically)
Alexander challenged the Muscatine Board of School Directors in court, and in 1868 won his landmark desegregation case which today can be cited by anyone who might face discrimination here in Iowa: Clark v. Bd. of Sch. Dirs., 24 Iowa 266, 277 (1868).
Something remarkable about Clark, is that there were no statutes or case law for him to draw upon within his legal filings. After all, the Iowa Civil Rights Act wasn’t passed until 97 years later — in 1965 — and the case was completely unprecedented: there was no case law for him to cite! Instead Clark leaned into the Equality Clause, found in Article I, Section 1 of the Iowa Constitution.
Author’s note: In law, “Article I, Section 1” would normally be abbreviated “Art. I Sec. 1” or “Art. I § 1”, for “§” is the “section” symbol. Throughout this page, however, in memory of Christopher Gadsden, instead of using the “§” symbol, I have instead inserted the “
” symbol. The “” symbol is located on the Gadsden Flag. You can learn more about Christopher Gadsden within the essay that is included in my Citizen’s Arrest Kits.
Art. I 1: “All [natural persons] are, by nature, free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights – among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness.“
Art I 1 is expanded upon within I 6, which sets forth: “All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation; the General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens.“
Alexander Clark won his case, and the State of Iowa became the first in the union to desegregate schools — 86 years before Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)!
The Justice Accessibility Act, detailed below, will put Iowa back on track toward leading the nation a leader in civil rights aka “civilian rights”. First, please watch this half hour documentary put together by the Alexander Clark Foundation:
Notably within the Iowa Supreme Court’s opinion, Justice Cole stated, “The board cannot, in their discretion, or otherwise, deny a youth admission to any particular school because of his or her nationality, religion, color, clothing or the like.” This is crucial because the Iowa Civil Rights Act only (explicitly) protects persons against discrimination based upon a person’s color, creed, gender identity, marital status, mental disability, national origin, physical disability, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Characteristics the Court recognized as protected, such as nationality or clothing, are not mentioned in the Act. This brings us to the difference between positive law, or that is written into statutes, and natural law, or that which is implied by that which is written. I am not an attorney nor do I practice law, however, as a student of law and as one Citizen to another, I would give the following advice: do not be dissuaded from justice just because something is not written into the positive law. Rather, be judicious and work toward justice accordingly.
“A judge is tethered to the positive law but should not be shackled to it.” – Patrick Devlin