Even though the the Iowa Supreme Court had declared in 1868 that Iowa schools could not bar children because of their race or establish separate schools by race, schools across the state continued to bar Black children from attending. At the time, Keokuk had the largest African American population in the state and two Keokuk school desegregation cases were filed in 1875. “In both Smith v. Directors of Independent School District of Keokuk and Dove v. Independent School District of Keokuk, the school district argued that the African American students denied admission—to the elementary school in Smith and to the high school in Dove—were denied because there were no empty seats. In each case the trial court found the African American student was refused because of his race, and that if he had been white, he would have been permitted to attend. The circuit court’s mandamus orders requiring admission to the schools were unanimously affirmed.”

Source: https://lawreviewdrake.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/clark-reflections-consolidated.pdf

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