The house known as Tate Arms provided off-campus dormitory-style housing for African American students during a time when the University of Iowa barred them from living on campus and housing was difficult for Black students to find due to racial discrimination. Prior to the establishment of rooming houses for Black students such as the Iowa Federation Home and the Tate Arms, Black male students generally roomed with one of the few Black families in Iowa City or worked as servants in white fraternity houses. Black female students often obtained room and board in the households of university professors in exchange for performing household duties. Until African American students were allowed to live on campus, these two houses—and others like them that have since been demolished—provided a way for Black students to pursue their education in a racially segregated city. Many of the students who lived in these houses became active in the Civil Rights Movement during the mid-twentieth century.

Learn more: https://www.icgov.org/project/preserving-black-history-iowa-city-tate-arms-and-iowa-federation-home
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