Yesterday, Sena and I had the pleasure of visiting the newly dedicated Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson Plaza, located just outside the front entrance of the Johnson County Administration Building, 913 S. Dubuque Street in Iowa City, Iowa. The dedication ceremony was on August 29, 2026.
Although we missed the dedication ceremony, the visit was very worthwhile and we were lucky to get one of the few copies left of the handsome and well written booklet, “Lulu Merle Johnson, Her Story.” It’s copyrighted and published by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. It was printed by Cedar Graphics, Inc., Hiawatha, Iowa.
The beautiful bronze sculpture was created by artist Steve Maxon. The statue was designed and fabricated at Max-Cast Sculpture and Foundry in Kalona, Iowa. The statue was funded by Johnson County and the City of Iowa City.
The plaza itself is tastefully designed and there are several displays of historical interest visitors can view.
I think one of the employees in the building noticed us taking pictures and came out to take pictures of us together beside the statue. That made our visit even more special.
I wrote a short blog post about Dr. Johnson in 2021. And there’s an extensively researched article about Johnson County being renamed in her honor written by Tom Snee and posted in 2020 in the on-line magazine Iowa Now.
Dr. Johnson spent a lot of her time at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which reminded me of my own time at one of the HBCUs, Huston-Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in Austin, Texas back in the 1970s.
I feel a little like the reporter that I was at HT-U as I write this post. I wrote for the Huston-Tillotson College school newspaper, the Ramshorn.
So, it’s no surprise that I found Dr. Johnson’s remarks about HBCUs ironic when she was asked what she thought about whether they are vital institutions in modern American society:
“I do not believe a Black college is vital because it rejects the idea of integration and projects the idea of separation of races. In this and many other colleges, programs in Black Studies and Afro-American Studies make it possible for students, black or white, to learn more about themselves and others.”—page 30, in the booklet Lulu Merle Johnson, Her Story.
The Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson Plaza is a very worthwhile place to visit. You can also pay your property taxes inside.
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