The name of the book I referred to earlier is Necessary Courage: Iowas Underground Railroad by Lowell Soike. It is really inspirational to read about the courage of ordinary citizens when put to the test. People opened their homes and put runaway slaves in the cellars and attics and barns to keep them safe on their way to Canada. They fought with guns but more often with Iowas very advanced law, starting with the very first case decided by the Iowa Supreme Court when we were still a territory. The case is called In Re Ralph and it is found at 1 Iowa Report 1. Iowa courts also held that children could go to their neighborhood schools, whatever their race in 1868, long before Brown v Board decide by the US Supreme Court in 1954. And the person most responsible for that case, Clark v Muscatine was also the founder of Drake Law School, Chester Cole. We have a very proud history of advancing the course of history for all individuals. Of course most recently it was the marriage equality decision in Varnum in 2009. It cost 3 of the justices their jobs but brought equality to our state and now to almost all of our nation. We have much to celebrate. R
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 21:23:18 +0000