On July 7, 1948, at 3:45 p.m., Edna Griffin, her infant daughter Phyllis, John Bibbs, and Leonard Hudson entered the Katz Drug Store in Des Moines, Iowa, and ordered ice cream at the lunch counter. The manager refused to serve them, saying, "It is the policy of our store that we don't serve colored." Outraged members of the community responded with sit-ins and picketing directed at Katz and other local lunch counters that refused to serve people because of race.
The Polk County Attorney's Office prosecuted the Katz manager under Iowa's only civil rights law, a criminal statute prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations. The manager was found guilty by an all-white jury and fined $50. The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the conviction on December 13, 1949.
On December 2, 1949, civil rights attorneys Charles P. Howard and Henry T. McKnight, who was head of the local NAACP Legal Redress Committee, negotiated an agreement, which successfully ended Katz's discriminatory practices.
Iowa Civil Rights Actedit
In 1884, the Iowa General Assembly enacted a law making it a crime to deny any individual "The full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, restaurants, chophouses, eating houses, lunch counters, and all other places where refreshments are served, public conveyances, barber shops, bathhouses, theaters, and all other places of amusement," on the basis of such factors as race, religion, or ethnic background.
Prior to 1884, only Massachusetts, New York, and Kansas had enacted statutes that guaranteed African Americans and other minority groups equal opportunity in "places of public accommodation."
The Iowa state courts, however, tended to interpret narrowly the legislative intent of the 1884 Act. Because the public accommodations provision specifically enumerated types of facilities, the court construed that it necessarily meant to exclude from its operation those facilities not so listed. Many kinds of establishments catering to the public were therefore left untouched by this provision; these establishments retained an unfettered discretion to discriminate among their patrons on such bases as race, religion, or ethnic background. Among establishments that were exempt from the proscriptions of the 1884 Civil Rights Act, were retail stores, beauty shops and salons, parking lots, gas stations, schools, health clinics, doctors' and dentists' offices, hospitals, banks, loan companies, lawyers' offices, real estate brokers' offices, employment agency offices, as well as many others.
^"State v. Katz, 241 Iowa 115 | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
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February 16, 2024
state, katz, state, iowa, katz, iowa, 1949, landmark, civil, rights, victory, involving, katz, drug, store, downtown, moines, iowa, contents, case, synopsis, iowa, civil, rights, also, references, external, linkscase, synopsis, editon, july, 1948, edna, griffi. State of Iowa v Katz 241 Iowa 115 40 N W 2d 41 1949 was a landmark civil rights victory involving the Katz Drug Store in downtown Des Moines Iowa 1 Contents 1 Case synopsis 2 Iowa Civil Rights Act 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksCase synopsis editOn July 7 1948 at 3 45 p m Edna Griffin her infant daughter Phyllis John Bibbs and Leonard Hudson entered the Katz Drug Store in Des Moines Iowa and ordered ice cream at the lunch counter The manager refused to serve them saying It is the policy of our store that we don t serve colored Outraged members of the community responded with sit ins and picketing directed at Katz and other local lunch counters that refused to serve people because of race The Polk County Attorney s Office prosecuted the Katz manager under Iowa s only civil rights law a criminal statute prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations The manager was found guilty by an all white jury and fined 50 The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the conviction on December 13 1949 On December 2 1949 civil rights attorneys Charles P Howard and Henry T McKnight who was head of the local NAACP Legal Redress Committee negotiated an agreement which successfully ended Katz s discriminatory practices Iowa Civil Rights Act editIn 1884 the Iowa General Assembly enacted a law making it a crime to deny any individual The full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations advantages facilities and privileges of inns restaurants chophouses eating houses lunch counters and all other places where refreshments are served public conveyances barber shops bathhouses theaters and all other places of amusement on the basis of such factors as race religion or ethnic background Prior to 1884 only Massachusetts New York and Kansas had enacted statutes that guaranteed African Americans and other minority groups equal opportunity in places of public accommodation The Iowa state courts however tended to interpret narrowly the legislative intent of the 1884 Act Because the public accommodations provision specifically enumerated types of facilities the court construed that it necessarily meant to exclude from its operation those facilities not so listed Many kinds of establishments catering to the public were therefore left untouched by this provision these establishments retained an unfettered discretion to discriminate among their patrons on such bases as race religion or ethnic background Among establishments that were exempt from the proscriptions of the 1884 Civil Rights Act were retail stores beauty shops and salons parking lots gas stations schools health clinics doctors and dentists offices hospitals banks loan companies lawyers offices real estate brokers offices employment agency offices as well as many others See also editGreensboro sit ins International Civil Rights Center and Museum F W Woolworth Building Lexington Kentucky Nashville sit insReferences edit State v Katz 241 Iowa 115 Casetext Search Citator casetext com Retrieved October 22 2023 External links editText of State v Katz 241 Iowa 115 is available from Casetext Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title State v Katz amp oldid 1186523430, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
