State Historical Society of Iowa
"Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain." That is the official motto of the state of Iowa. Liberties and rights refer to our freedoms to pursue our own goals, but they must balance those with the rights and liberties of others. Rights and liberties often deal with restrictions on what the government can do, but they also include what we can or cannot do to others.
Both the federal and state constitutions list specific restrictions on the powers of government. These include the freedom of speech, religion, the press and assembly as well as numerous other guarantees against government intrusion into areas of our private lives. However, who enjoys these rights has been a debate. Questions over race have been an ongoing issue. Early Iowa lawmakers placed restrictions on African-Americans' right to live here, to vote, to serve on juries or attend school. Gradually, legal restrictions were removed, but African Americans still face hurdles in reaching full equality. The Iowa Supreme Court issued important rulings against slavery and racial discrimination in public education and in public accommodations, like transportation and housing.
The right to vote was originally restricted to white men only, but first African-American men and then all women gained the right. Women's suffrage was tied politically to the regulation of alcohol with the assumption that women voters would restrict saloons and similar establishments. Those who favored more lenient alcohol laws usually opposed women's suffrage.
Similar debates have surrounded issues of religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation. In 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples could marry in Iowa because the constitution says that all citizens must be treated equally. The opinion thrust Iowa into the national spotlight as the state became the fifth to grant the right to same-sex couples. Some religious groups pushed back claiming that the Bible forbids such unions and that churches should not be required to engage in activities that violate to practice their religion. Whose rights are more important?
The expansion of the protection of the law rarely happens without a major political push from the group's advocates. Granting African-American males the right to vote and removing constitution restrictions limiting certain rights to "whites" only was a major issue in the 1868 election following the Civil War.
Women's suffrage advocates almost achieved a victory in the early 1870s but the effort spluttered when the U.S. Supreme Court nullified a referendum on a technicality. Iowa-born Carrie Chapman Catt rose to the leadership of a national women's suffrage organization credited with final passage in Congress submitting the question to the states. The Civil Rights marches in the 1960s had local support in Iowa and were an important political issue. Iowa voters narrowly defeated an Equal Rights Amendment that would have prohibited discrimination based on sex. Three of the seven judges who approved the unanimous Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage were voted off the bench by a movement led by religious conservatives.
While the trend is to prohibit discrimination against an ever wider circle of citizens, how to balance individual liberties, the common good and the authority of the government remains a source of debate. Through it all, Iowa's motto remains constant: "Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.
| Civil Rights: Before, During and After the World Wars Source Set Teaching Guide |
| Printable Image and Document Guide |
This portrait is of Army Private Jonas M. Poweshiek, a Meskwaki soldier during World War I. Poweshiek enlisted in the Army in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 6, 1917, three months after the US declared war on Germany.
This photograph and caption from The Iowa Bystander shows a group of African-American soldiers training at Fort Des Moines. Fort Des Moines was used by the US Army as a training camp for officers. The image was taken Aug. 10, 1917, and the men are graduat...
This is an advertisement for the book, "The History and Views of Colored Officers Training Camp at Fort Des Moines for 1917." The ad was published in The Iowa Bystander, an African-American newspaper in Des Moines, Iowa.
This short article from the African-American newspaper The Bystander highlights a group of African-Americans participating in an officers' training camp at Ft. Des Moines.
The photograph is of 10 World War I YMCA Educational Secretaries who are stationed at Camp Dodge in Des Moines, Iowa. Educational Secretaries in the YMCA were missionaries of sorts who led programs of education wherever they were stationed. The image was ...
This newspaper article from the Iowa City Citizen was printed in December 1917. By December 1917, African American soldiers had been participating in training at Camp Dodge near Des Moines for a few months in preparation for deployment to fight in World W...
This photograph shows African-American soldiers and sailors sitting and standing around a table in an American Red Cross Rest Room (literally a room to hang out in, not a bathroom) specifically outfitted for only African Americans during World War I. This...
This poster from World War I shows African-American soldiers fighting German soldiers, with an image of Abraham Lincoln above the battlefield.
This 1919 photograph is of the 803rd Pioneer Infantry Band playing on board the U.S.S. Philippine in Brest Harbor, France. The 803rd was an African American band that played for French and American troops during their military service overseas. The photog...
This photograph shows the Women's Army Corps Company from the Ft. Des Moines training center at the premiere of the motion picture film "Women at War" at the Des Moines Theater in September of 1943.
This letter was sent from African-American activist and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to President Woodrow Wilson in November 1918 as World War I was coming to an end. The letter discusses the need to address the "race problem" both abroad and within t...
This letter was sent from African-American activist and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to President Woodrow Wilson in November 1918. The letter discusses the need to address the "race problem" both abroad and within the United States after World War I.
This photo from The Iowa Bystander was published Dec. 20, 1918, of the Charles Young Auxillary at the American Red Cross in Des Moines, Iowa. The caption talks about a the members of the auxiliary holding a bazaar to raise funds for "carrying Christm...
"Wartime Illusions and Disillusionment: Camp Dodge and Racial Stereotyping, 1917-1918," by Bill Douglas in The Annals of Iowa
This 1998 article was featured in The Annals of Iowa, a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of history published by the State Historical Society of Iowa. This essay, in particular, takes a closer look at the effect of racial stereotyping at Camp Dodge during the last two years of World War I.
Listed below are the Iowa Core Social Studies content anchor standards that are best reflected in this source set. The content standards applied to this set are elementary-age level and encompass the key disciplines that make up social studies for students 6th through 12th grade.
| No. | Standard Description |
| SS.6.21. | Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed throughout different historical eras. |
| SS-US.9-12.25. | Analyze how regional, racial, ethnic and gender perspectives influenced American history and culture. |
| SS-US.9-12.27. | Evaluate Iowans or groups of Iowans who have influenced U.S. History |
