One of the many reasons it is such and Honor to be an Iowa Attorney is our incredible history of being on the cutting edge of Civil Rights.  Here is the first page of the very first case ever decided by the Iowa Supreme Court. It is the case of "In the Matter of Ralph." This case was decided in 1839 and was a courageous movement forward for Civil Rights.  The US Supreme Court considered the same issue 18 years later and decided differently. That was the case known as the Dred Scott v Sanford, 60 US 393 (1857).  The Dred Scott decision was in turn ultimately overruled by the 13th and14th Amendments to the United States Constitution which were adopted respective in 1864 and 1868 (shortly after the US Civil War).  History has shown that Iowa got the question of slavery right the first time, about 25 years before the United States came up with the correct answer. 

Iowa has shown this commitment to Individual
Rights and Liberties by deeds as well. 

1839 - Iowa Territorial Supreme Court ruled that a former slave who contracted
      for his freedom but was unable to pay the contract price was still a free man in
      Iowa. In Re Ralph, A Black Man.  The first 2 pages of this case are set out above.
        
1857 - U.S. Supreme Court rules that fugitive slaves in free states and
      territories must be returned to their masters. Dred Scott v. Sandford. 
        
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation is signed by President Abraham Lincoln.  
      This was actually an Executive Order giving fair notice to all that the Executive
       Branch of the United States would no longer recognize slavery (in the Southern
       States only). 
        
1866 - 13th Amendment to the United States Constitituion.  This Amendment  
       abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States. 

       Congress also enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1866  and this guaranteed African-
       Americans the right to contract and equal protection under the law.
        
1868 - Iowa Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools are illegal. Clark v.
      The Board of Directors.
        
1873 - Iowa Supreme Court ruled that African-Americans are entitled to equal
      treatment in public accommodations. Coger v. The North West Union Packet
      Co.
        
1875 - The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that schools cannot deny admittance to
      African-Americans. Smith v. The Directors of the Ind. Sch. Dist. of Keokuk
      and Dove v. The Ind. Sch. Dist. of Keokuk.
        
1880 - Iowa Constitution was amended to allow African American men to serve in
      the Iowa General Assembly.
        
1884 - Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1884 prohibited discrimination in public
      accommodations.
        
1885 - Iowa Supreme Court ruled that it is legal for a skating rink to deny
      admittance to African Americans. Bowlin v. Lyon.
        
1896 - U,.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but
      equal" doctrine is constitutional.
        
1905 - Iowa Supreme Court ruled that it is illegal for an eating house to
      deny service to an African-American juror. Humburd v. Crawford.

1948 - Storeowner Maurice Katz charged with breaking criminal law of Iowa for 
      refusing to serve a young black couple and their infant daughter.  Mr. Katz
      ultimately appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court and lost his appeal.  
                
1954 - U.S. Supreme Court declared that the "separate but equal" doctrine is
      unconstitutional. Brown v. Bd. of Education.
        
1955 - December - Rosa Parks of Montgomery, AL, refused to give up her seat
      on a bus to a white man, triggering a 13 month bus boycott which
      eventually integrated the transportation system.
        
1960 - College students in Nashville, TN, begin lunch counter sit-ins.
      Movement spreads to other cities.
        
1963 - August 28 - the March on Washington takes place, and Dr. Martin Luther
      King, Jr., delivered his "I have a Dream" speech. Edna Griffin leads the
      Iowa Delegation to the March.
      Griffin organized the Des Moines Chapter of the Congress of Racial
      Equality (CORE).
        
1964 - July 2 - President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the 1964 Civil Rights
      Act.
        
1965 - The Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 is passed and signed into law by
      Governor Harold Hughes.

* the bulk of this information was found at:  http://www.iowa.gov/government/crc/docs/communicatorspecial98.html

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