Watch the 2021 OVATION Unveiling Ceremonies
2021 Online Unveiling Receptions Click to watch the Iowa City Area unveiling Click to watch the Des Moines Area unveiling Click to watch the Cedar Rapids Area unveiling Click to watch the Cedar Falls-Waterloo Area unveiling 2022 Ovation Join us for the 9th edition of OVATION unveilings, where we’ll shine a spotlight on the Iowa […]
IWF Celebrates Black History in Iowa: Pauline Brown Humphrey
Pauline Brown Humphrey was the first African American woman to own and operate a certified cosmetology school in Iowa and the first certified to teach cosmetology in the state. Myrise Pauline Robinson Brown Humphrey was born in Des Moines, Iowa. She attended the Madam C.J. Walker school in Chicago in 1935. Upon returning to Des […]
IWF Celebrates Black History in Iowa: Minnie Robinson London
Minnie Belle Robinson was born in 1862, in Lexington, Missouri. In 1891, 23 year old Minnie arrived in Muchakinock, Iowa with her sister, to teach grammar school. She also married miner turned businessman William Henry London that same year. London taught at the 5th street and 11th street elementary schools in Muchakinock. After moving to […]
IWF Celebrates Black History in Iowa: Ann Toney
We want to thank the African American Museum of Iowa for providing these African American women who made an impact in Iowa. Cecile Cooper and Ann Toney both owned and operated beauty salons in Davenport and were tireless fighters for civil rights for minorities living in Davenport and the Quad Cities area. Cecile Cooper was […]
IWF Celebrates Black History in Iowa: Vivian Smith and Murda Beason
During the mid-1910s, the women’s suffrage movement was on the rise in Iowa thanks in large part to women’s clubs. The clubs consisted of middle-class, educated women with time to devote to social causes, education, and philanthropy. African American women also took part in their own clubs. One of the largest was the Federation of […]
IWF Celebrates Black History in Iowa: Grace Allen Jones
This is a studio portrait of educator and advocate Grace Morris Allen Jones. Born in Keokuk, Iowa, in 1876, Jones was raised in Burlington, Iowa. she received her teacher’s certificate from the Normal School in Burlington and taught in Missouri for three years. Jones returned to Burlington, and established the Grace M. Allen Industrial School […]
IWF Celebrates Black History in Iowa: Gertrude Rush
Gertrude Elzora Durden Rush was born in Navasota, Texas, the daughter of a Baptist minister. The Durden’s were part of the Exoduster movement in late 1870s settling in Oskaloosa, Kansas. Between 1898 and 1907, Rush was a teacher in Kansas, in governmental schools in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma), and in Des Moines, Iowa. After marrying […]
Watch the 2020 OVATION Unveiling Ceremonies
2020 Online Unveiling Receptions Click to watch the Iowa City Area unveiling Click to watch the North Liberty-Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Area unveiling Click to watch the Des Moines Area unveiling Click to watch the Cedar Falls-Waterloo Area unveiling Join us for the 8th edition of OVATION unveilings, where we’ll shine a spotlight on the Iowa […]
Exhibit Kicks Off 19th Amendment Centennial
The Iowa Women’s Foundation hosted an event at Old Capitol on Friday, January 24th, for supporters and the League of Women Voters of Johnson County. The event gave attendees a preview of a special exhibit that opened to the public the following day. About 50 people join us at the Old Capitol Museum on the […]
Johnson County Proclamation Marks the Centennial Commemoration of the 19th Amendment
IWF was on hand in today for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors official proclamation to mark the centennial commemoration of the 19th Amendment and to encourage citizens to learn more about the women’s suffrage and the role women have played in our society. You can read the proclamation below.
