Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson made history in Iowa. Now a 7-foot statue will honor her legacy
TheGrio...
Johnson became Iowa’s first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in 1941, but discriminatory hiring practices kept her from teaching in the state.
In 1941, Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Iowa from the University of Iowa. But despite that historic achievement, discriminatory hiring practices prevented her from getting a job in the state.
Now, 85 years later, Johnson is being honored in a very public way.
On Saturday, Aug. 29, Johnson County will dedicate the Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson Plaza in Iowa City and unveil a 7-foot bronze statue of the pioneering scholar. The 1,500-pound statue, created by sculptor Steve Maxon of Max-Cast in Kalona, is the largest ever cast at the foundry.
According to the press release announcing the dedication, the plaza will feature six interpretive panels telling Johnson’s story.
Born in Gravity, Iowa, in 1907, Johnson was the granddaughter of formerly enslaved people. She enrolled at the University of Iowa in 1925, when Black students were barred from living in the school’s residence halls.
Her doctorate came 11 years after she earned her master’s degree. While teaching full time at Talladega and Tougaloo, she developed a course called “The Negro in American Life,” which she first taught in 1941, decades before Black Studies became an established academic field.
Although Iowa would not hire her, Johnson built a career at West Virginia State, Florida A&M and Cheyney, eventually serving as dean of women and department chair. She retired in 1971 and died in 1995.
The new statue is also part of a broader effort to recognize Johnson’s place in the county’s history. In 2021, county supervisors made her the official namesake of Johnson County, replacing Richard Mentor Johnson, a Kentucky enslaver who never visited Iowa.
“Dr. Johnson earned her doctorate in this county and could not be hired in this state,” Lisa Green-Douglass, vice chair of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, said. “Recognizing her as the official eponym of the county was the correction. This statue is the proof.”
For Johnson’s great-niece, Sonya Y. Jackson, preserving that history has been a decades-long mission.
“Iowa closed a classroom door; her county is opening a plaza,” Jackson said.
The dedication ceremony will take place from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, with doors opening at 10 a.m. A short film written and directed by Jackson, produced by her sister Kim Jackson, will screen during the event, accompanied by live jazz before and after the dedication.