University Dorm Integration

Dr. Philip Hubbard (1921-2002), first African-American professor at the University of Iowa, talks about integrating dorms at the university. He was being interviewed by Robert Morris, whose father was one of the first African-Americans to live in the dorms.

There was no official prohibition to blacks living in the dormitory. It was kind of a general understanding. They just didn’t. And this was in spite of the fact that some of them could well afford it. One of my colleagues there was the son of Dr. Harper in Keokuk, and he drove a Packard. But he didn’t live in the dormitory. But it was not official. After the war, then these soldiers came back and they weren’t about to be discriminated against in that way. So without having to change any regulations the university started to house them in the dormitories. It didn’t mean too much to me because I couldn’t afford it anyway. But the people who could, lived in the dormitories. I think your father may have been one of the first. And after that there was no restriction. One of our dormitories now is named for Duke Slater. [Fred "Duke" Slater was a black football standout at the university 1918-21.]