A Monument Long Overdue: Honoring Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson in Iowa
Barred from Iowa classrooms by discriminatory hiring practices in 1941, Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson is finally claiming her place in the county that bears her name. On August 29, a seven-foot bronze statue of the pioneering scholar will be unveiled at a new plaza in Iowa City, rectifying a historic exclusion.
Born in Gravity, Iowa, in 1907, Johnson was the granddaughter of formerly enslaved people. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1941, yet the state refused to hire her. She spent her career in the segregated South, teaching courses on Black life decades before the field of Black Studies existed. After an academic career that included roles as dean of women and department chair, she died in 1995. In 2021, Johnson County supervisors officially renamed the county in her honor, replacing Richard Mentor Johnson, a Kentucky enslaver who never visited the state.
The 1,500-pound monument, created by sculptor Steve Maxon, stands as a physical correction to this legacy. Lisa Green-Douglass, Vice Chair of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, noted that the statue serves as tangible proof of a long-overdue reconciliation. For her great-niece, Sonya Y. Jackson, the dedication represents a symbolic reversal of the doors once closed to her aunt. The ceremony at 913 S. Dubuque St. will feature a short film and live music to celebrate a woman who spent her life breaking barriers.
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