“Back in 1962, we were breaking the law in a big way just by playing music together in Memphis,” storied songwriter Booker T. Jones recalled. “And while it was OK to break the law if you’re in the right place, like at Stax, in general, it was never OK.” Sixty-two was the year Jones’ interracial […]
Civil Rights
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds boasts about her anti-LGBTQ school policies, calls for new law restricting students’ access to books conservatives don’t like
Speaking at a gathering of conservative activists on Thursday, Gov. Kim Reynolds expressed her opposition to schools offering support to transgender students and called for a new law to restrict student access to books some conservative parents find objectionable. The governor characterized these proposals as part of her agenda of “parental rights,” a term she […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Mean-spirited’ bill restricting how teachers can support transgender students moves quickly through Iowa House
On Tuesday afternoon, the three members of an Iowa House subcommittee listened to an hour of testimony on HF 9, a bill aimed at preventing teachers and other school staff from acknowledging the identities of transgender students unless they first receive parental permission to do so. With only a few exceptions, the speakers testified strongly […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cedar Rapids schools will stop using seclusion rooms after district reached settlement with Justice Department over disciplinary practices
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday it had reached a settlement agreement with the Cedar Rapids Community School District regarding what it determined to be the school district’s “discriminatory use of seclusion and restraint against students with disabilities.” The Civil Rights Division began its review of whether […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Judge strikes down Iowa’s ban on Medicaid covering gender-affirming medical procedures
In 2019, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state regulation prohibiting Medicaid from covering gender-affirming procedures deemed medically necessary, finding it violated the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA). Republicans in the state legislature responded by passing a statute intended to amend the ICRA and make that sort of discrimination legal by prohibiting “any state […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s ban on school mask mandates halted by federal judge
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Monday afternoon that stops the Reynolds administration from enforcing its law prohibiting Iowa school districts from creating their own face mask mandates. “Iowa’s mask mandate ban makes it dangerous for disabled or immunocompromised children to attend school, but several pediatricians opine it is dangerous for […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘It’s simply unacceptable’: U.S. Department of Education launches investigation of Iowa’s ban on mask mandates in schools
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has launched an investigation into whether Iowa’s prohibition on mandating face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 put students at risk in a way that violates their rights. “Specifically, OCR will examine whether, in light of Iowa’s prohibition on local school districts and schools […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Betty Jean Furgerson, a leader in civil rights, education and the arts, dies at age 91
Betty Jean Furgerson, a leading advocate for civil rights, education, the arts and public broadcasting, died last week at the age of 91. According to an obituary posted by Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery Funeral Home, Furgerson died peacefully on Aug. 14 at her home in Cedar Rapids, where she’d lived since 2010. Her life was […]
Posted inCommunity/News
FasTrac’s annual tour of HBCUs and Civil Rights sites helps Iowa City students see the world differently
This year’s FasTrac tour of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and important sites associated with the Civil Rights movement will mark two important anniversaries. In addition to being the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., 2018 is also the 10th anniversary of the first FasTrac tour.
Posted inCommunity/News
Weekend Warriors: 10 Labor Movement heroes who helped pave the way for our right to rest
The labor laws in place today didn’t get there on their own. Here are ten influential activists who helped pave the way.
Posted inCommunity/News
Linda Eaton’s War
This article’s research is based on the “The accidental feminist: Iowa’s breastfeeding firefighter and the national struggle for workplace equity,” a dissertation by Sharon Lake. For a more detailed telling of this story, read Lake’s report in its entirety here. [dropcap]I[/dropcap]n her official photo, former Iowa City firefighter Linda Eaton flashes a dimpled smile, her […]
