Trailblazer: LuLu Merle Johnson achieved greatness, fought Jim Crow in Iowa

On June 24, 2021, Johnson County, Iowa, was renamed after a Black woman, Lulu Merle Johnson. Johnson had deep ties to Iowa. She was born and raised in Gravity, Iowa, where her family had been landowners and successful farmers since the 1880s.

Among Johnson’s many accomplishments, in 1941, she was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Iowa — and from the University of Iowa, said her niece, Sonya Jackson. Jackson is founder and CEO of eSJay Creative Works and producer/impact producer of “Punch 9 for Harold Washington” a documentary on Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. Johnson was one of 10 African American women in the country awarded a doctorate at that time. 

Johnson’s journey to her doctorate was a long one 

Johnson’s pursuit of her doctorate in history was hindered by Jim Crow and segregation, which she both dealt with and fought against. According to a biography written by Jackson and Leslie A. Schwalm, Johnson attended a course by a political science professor who’d assigned seats only for white students. Johnson and two other Black students ignored this, took seats at the front of the class and actively participated. 

Black students could not stay in the dormitories. Thus, they lived in private housing. Men lived in Tate Arms, while women, including Johnson, lived in a home owned by the Iowa Federation of Colored Women Clubs. In the 1940s, Johnson led the fight to desegregate the dorms. 

When Johnson obtained both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1930, students had to pass a swimming requirement before graduating. When the school wanted to waive the requirement for Black students, Johnson and her classmates objected. 

“This made things very difficult for the white pool managers, who felt they had to drain the pool after any Black student entered it,” Schwalm and Jackson wrote. 

“The students made sure to schedule their tests at odd hours — so that the inconvenience of Jim Crow fell on the school, not just the students.” 

After getting her master’s, Johnson was unable to teach at the university because the university would not hire Black professors. 

“It took ten years for her to get her Ph.D. because she would have to leave and go to HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) to teach and work,” said Jackson, in a recent interview. 

“Then she’d come back to the University of Iowa and continue her studies,” she said. 

At a time when white scholars dominated the study of slavery and espoused the belief that Blacks benefited from slavery and were treated well, Johnson broke new ground in her dissertation, “The Problem of Slavery in the Old Northwest, 1787- 1858.” 

Still unable to teach at the university after obtaining her doctorate, Johnson continued teaching at HBCUs, including Talladega College, Tugaloo College, Florida A&M University, West Virginia State University, and Cheney State University. While at Tugaloo, she continued to defy white scholars by focusing and integrating African American experiences and history into American history with her renowned course, “The Negro in American History.” 

Why Johnson County was renamed 

Though changing Johnson County’s namesake had been suggested years earlier by Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan, the catalyst for the name change came after George Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020. As the push to dismantle Confederate monuments got underway, university archivist David McCartney petitioned the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to change the eponym to honor her. In the petition, McCartney referenced an Iowa City Press-Citizen article by University of Iowa Professor Ronald McMullen in which McMullen highlighted just how “despicable” the previous namesake of Johnson County was. 

At the time Johnson County was established in 1837, it was named after Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson, who served under President Martin Van Buren from 1837-1841. 

Not only was Johnson an enslaver, but he openly fathered two children by a woman on his plantation, Julia Chinn, whom he never granted freedom. 

When Chinn died, McMullen states in the article, “Johnson, then 55, began preying on another female enslaved person, a teenager named Cornelia Parthene, who found the situation intolerable and fled north, trying to reach Canada and freedom. Johnson sent his brother to run her down; Parthene was captured in Ohio and returned to Johnson’s Kentucky plantation, where she was severely punished and/or sold.” 

Johnson was also celebrated for his military career in the War of 1812, where he led troops against indigenous people and was credited by some with killing Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief, in the Battle of the Thames. 

Other than the name, Johnson has no known connection to Iowa. 

The Eponym Committee formed to identify a new namesake for Johnson County offered two recommendations, which led to the Board of Supervisors choosing LuLu Johnson. 

Exhibit and documentary will honor Dr. Johnson’s legacy

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Johnson’s matriculation, an exhibit to commemorate Johnson’s legacy is in the works for the summer of 2025. It will be at 913 S. Dubuque Street near the Johnson County Administrative Building — which Jackson learned after talking to her father, is exactly two blocks from their former family home. 

A statue of Johnson, placed at the end of a grassy strip of land sandwiched between parking lots, will face Tate Arms which was owned by Bettye Tate, a Jackson family friend. Jackson is happy to have well-known Iowa sculptor, Steve Maxon of Max-Cast, who specializes in historical figures, commissioned to complete Johnson’s statue. 

Jackson is also excited to have Will Thomson of Armadillo Arts on the project. He has done the renderings and is helping with some of the pieces for the indoor exhibit, including a part of the documentary Jackson will be making. The documentary will tell about the making of the statue, along with her aunt’s accomplishments and the challenges she faced due to Jim Crow and racism. 

Jackson has spent more than 30 years championing recognition for her aunt. 

“To see it all come to fruition, it’s very heartening, and it’s very powerful, and I’m just glad that I’m here to be able to participate,” Jackson said. “One of the things that I said very early on is I never wanted my aunt’s legacy to be lost behind the white gaze — not that I expected anything nefarious to happen. I just didn’t want her story, you know, whitewashed or as in so many Black stories, there ends up being like a white savior. So I’m like, no, she worked her a– off.” 

This story first appeared in the winter edition of the Black Iowa Newspaper.