Youth & Truth, Day of Action 2024

College Green Park -- A site of resistance and rebellion

Even as conservative politicians today carry on traditions threatening an inclusive democracy, we might draw from equally long traditions of those fighting for justice, solidarity, and peace. In Iowa, many of those fighting on the side of justice have chosen College Green Park as a site of resistance.

Abolitionist John Brown stayed just blocks away at 914 Iowa Ave. It was from there that he had to flee in the middle of the night as those upholding the “law & order” of their day threatened his life. Aided by local abolitionists, Brown returned to Iowa to plan his raid on Harper’s Ferry, a major catalyst for the Civil War.

“While history is what happened, it is also, just as important, how we think about what happened and what we unearth and choose to remember about what happened.” -Nikole Hannah-Jones

Reconstruction following the Civil War expanded public schools, abolished slavery, and established increased protection under the law. A conservative backlash followed. Much like today, this backlash restricted histories that pointed to white supremacy or other systemic oppression. Organizers challenged these histories and the white supremacist policies they maintained.

In 1870, Quaker activists helped organize a Women’s Suffrage Convention in Mount Pleasant. In 1873, teenager Emma Coger forced the Iowa Supreme Court to outlaw segregation on steamboats. In 1905, Buxton resident George H. Woodson co- founded the Niagara Movement, which later became the NAACP. In 1911, Iowan John L. Lewis organized the American Federation of Labor. Edna Griffin, known as the Rosa Parks of Iowa, helped integrate businesses in Des Moines. All of these heroes worked with others and pushed against the norms of their day. Lorelei DeCora served as one of the youngest leaders of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s and pushed her Iowa school district to adopt less whitewashed curriculum.

Resistance to the Jim Crow order exploded in the 1960s. Resisting racism, colonialism, sexism, and classism meant understanding their histories and interconnectedness. People rebelled through teach-ins, speak-outs, protests, and legal challenges.

College Green park served as the site of a “Take Back the Night” rally June 1, 1979. The planning committee included the local chapter of NOW, the Rape Victim Advocacy Program, and the University of Iowa’s Taekwondo Club. The Rape Victim Advocacy Program distributed maps to attendees marking over 100 reported incidences of sexual violence from January 1978 to March 1979.

“History is about power.” -Nikole Hannah-Jones

The illegal Vietnam War became a focal point for those wishing to undo the racism, colonialism, and classism animating it. Part of a national day of action, a rally began at College Green Park on October 15, 1969. Protestors lit candles and marched to the Pentacrest to honor the tens of thousands killed in the war. University professors and President Sandy Boyd helped lead teach-ins contextualizing the war and its connections to brutal traditions. Bold leadership that refuses to be complicit in systemic oppression is needed today.