Lang
6/24/21
Johnson County now has a new namesake.
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Thursday to recognize Lulu Merle Johnson as the official eponym, or namesake, of Johnson County.
Lulu Merle Johnson was born in 1907 in Gravity, Iowa, to a father who was born into slavery. She became a student at the State University of Iowa, now the University of Iowa, in 1925 at a time when she was one of only 14 African-American women enrolled at the university. She earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree by 1930, despite facing open discrimination because of her race and gender.
From 1931 to 1941, Lulu Merle Johnson was a professor at the State University of Iowa while working toward her Ph.D. In 1941, she became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. from the University. From 1931 until her retirement in 1971, she maintained an active career as a professor and academic. She taught history at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and was the Dean of Women at Cheyney State University (Cheyney University) in Cheyney, Pennsylvania.
Johnson County was originally named after Richard Mentor Johnson by the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature in 1837. Richard Mentor Johnson was a slave owner for his entire life, and took credit for killing Shawnee Chief Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames in 1805.