It’s Black History month, and the struggle for equality continues. Washington county, however, can take pride that many of our pioneers were early advocates for equality. Local historian Michael Zahs says equality in education was found early locally at the Young America School, northwest of Washington.

During the time of the Civil War there were black families that settled in and around Washington and a young African-American student attended this school. This angered one local father, who didn’t want his child to have to sit with him. So the father approached the school board and the school board agreed to change it. However, members of the community became greatly upset, called a special meeting and overrode the school board. Zahs says, “They said to this father, if you don’t want your son sitting with another student then you had best move to a different district.”

Zahs says while this isn’t well publicized, it did happen and it happened in Muscatine around the same time, “These were probably the first two places in the United States that said separate is not equal, that people of different races have the right to go to the same school.” For more information about this listen to the Washington Page with Zahs