Iowa became a state in December 1846. The history of Black people in Iowa began decades earlier when York, a frontiersman enslaved by Capt. William Clark, explored Iowa near Council Bluffs in 1804 as part of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Thus Black history in Iowa predates by far the existence of the state itself.
Years later as explorers, settlers, and those involved in commerce traveled up and down the Mississippi, communities began to be established along the Iowa side of the river. Self-emancipated Blacks, free people of color, and enslaved Blacks were part of these earliest communities. By 1838, a territorial census enumerated 72 Black people living in Dubuque. Some communities were welcoming and supportive while others were decidedly not. Click on the towns & cities above to learn more about Black history in those specific Iowa communities.
The video above from the State Historical Society of Iowa gives a good overview of how Black communities spread across Iowa from the earliest days to present; presenter Ricki King includes data, maps, records, and shares some of her own family history. Duration: 47 min. 
Bright Radical Star: Black Freedom and White Supremacy on the Hawkeye Frontier by Much of Black history in Ames is connected to Iowa State University. Please see the ISU Black History column on the left side of this web page. Early Iowa censuses show that Ames and all of Story County had very few Black residents, a pattern that persisted into the early 20th century. The university was a primary reason many Black individuals and families came to Ames. In the words of one researcher, while Blacks were generally accepted into the Ames and university communities, still "de facto segregation and overt racism existed" and made life challenging for Black students and families. Well into the 20th century, Iowa State and Ames remained quite segregated. View the video below for more information.
Presented by Gloria Betcher of ISU and sponsored by Ames History Museum. Historic census data presented by Betcher show that Story County (where Ames and ISU are located) had no more than 10 Black residents enumerated during 1865-1910! George Washington Carver arrived in Ames in 1891and became the first Black student to graduate from Iowa State. He likely was also the first Black individual to live in Ames. Duration: 90 min.
The book Iowa's Black Legacy includes a chapter on Burlington. Like many river towns, Burlington developed into one of Iowa's earliest cities due to its location on the Mississippi. According to the book, before the end of the Civil War its location also made it "a haven" for self-emancipating Black people and a site that attracted business and industry. The book does not include many specifics about the history of Black communities there but does include many photographs of prominent individuals from Burlington. Historian Dwain Coleman provides more specifics and research in the article "Times Certainly Have Changed," dating Black history in Burlington to the early 1830s when the settlement was founded. Coleman's work stands to refute the "whitewashing" of midwestern history and traces the development of Burlington's Black communities from early legal interventions for enslaved people to gain their freedom; to details on the First Iowa Infantry of African Descent; claiming citizenship and equal rights; to early residents and their occupations and organizations, including "Prince Hall masonry... Old Fellow Lodges, Colored Women's Clubs, and churches like St. John AME and Second Baptist." (p36) The article is a great read for learning more about Black history and contributions to Burlington. Includes a few photos and many cited sources for learning more.
Iowa's Black Legacy by Buxton (founded in 1895 in Monroe County) was an early coal mining community in southeastern Iowa, founded after the Muchakinock coal mines in nearby Mahaska County began to be depleted. Both towns were notable for being thriving communities that were racially integrated, generally tolerant, and free of racial violence. Buxton in particular became a cultured community that attracted many Black professionals. Buxton was created by railroad entrepreneurs specifically for coal mining to meet the coal-burning needs of trains and the railroad industry. Due to white coal miners striking at Muchakinock in 1880, 62 Black coal miners were recruited from Virginia to come work in the mines. They were soon joined by their families and neighbors and additional Black miners recruited from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, all together forming a flourishing Black community. As Muchakinock's coal began to give out, the town of Buxton was founded in nearby Monroe County. Black miners from Muchakinock moved to Buxton which soon became a highly developed Black majority town boasting schools, churches, banks, a YMCA, and many Black-owned businesses, and a total population of more than 4600. Some Buxton residents including E.A. Carter were able to pursue more specialized higher education opportunities in nearby Oskaloosa, which had a strong Quaker presence. Carter later became the first Black student to graduate from the University of Iowa's medical college. As Buxton's coal began to give out around 1910, Blacks began leaving Buxton for other parts including Des Moines, Knoxville, Waterloo, Detroit, and elsewhere. Today both towns are defunct and no buildings remain.
Duration: Circa 15 min. Narrated by the renowned Simon Estes, whose father was a coalminer. Finding Buxton, Part 2 also available; duration circa 14 min. Both with
The Mahaska county seat is Oskaloosa, a small city with a pronounced Quaker history. Quakers across the country were known to be anti-slavery and later strong allies for civil rights, as were the clergy and membership of the Congregational Church (now called United Church of Christ), also present in Oskaloosa. William Penn College, the Quaker "Friends" Church, and the Congregational Church were strong moral pillars for the community. Yet, just one county west, officials from Marion County in 1845 arrested the McGregors, an interracial couple from Illinois who had dared to attempt to settle within Marion County. According to the book Black Pioneers, the couple was able to move the court venue to Oskaloosa, where the charges were dismissed. However, back in Marion County, officials there violently harassed the couple and kidnapped Mrs. McGregor, such that the couple left the state. So, little pockets of tolerance and acceptance were important but not enough.
Around 1893 through at least 1895, Oskaloosa had a weekly Black newspaper called The Negro Solicitor, that came out on Saturdays and was produced by George E. Taylor, editor and publisher. The first Black woman to be hired as a college professor in the state of Iowa was Madeline Clark Foreman, hired to teach at Oskaloosa's William Penn College in 1945. According to the linked article, some townspeople protested the professor living in their white neighborhood.
Areas of Oskaloosa and Mahaska County were known for their coal deposits, making mining an early industry in the region. Muchakinock was a coal mining community near East Des Moines township, which (not to be confused with the city of Des Moines or the county of Des Moines) was located in the southeastern corner of Mahaska County. Due to white coal miners striking at Muchakinock in 1880, 62 Black coal miners were recruited from Virginia to come work in the mines. They were soon joined by their families and neighbors and additional Black miners recruited from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, all together forming the beginnings of a flourishing Black community. As Muchakinock's coal began to give out, the town of Buxton was founded in nearby Monroe County. Almost all of Muchakinock's Black coal miners and their families relocated the short distance to Buxton. Buxton's schools became very well developed by the Black community there and had Black teachers. However, some Black families who began to thrive in Buxton looked to Oskaloosa for higher education possibilities for some of their children. Edward A. Carter was likely the first Black student to graduate from the Oskaloosa High School in 1899. Carter went on to become he first Black graduate from the Univ. of Iowa College of Medicine.
Most narratives about Muchakinock and Buxton stress tolerance and an "amazing" lack of racism. However, interest convergence might be a better framework for understanding these interracial communities. While coal mines were booming and Black miners were a significant percentage of the workforce for these difficult and unsafe jobs, company policy demanded nothing threaten the stability of the workforce. As soon as coal mines depleted, many Black families were prompt to move away from the coal mining communities to seek work (and undoubtedly community) in cities such as Des Moines, while many others left the state entirely for hopefully better prospects in Chicago and Detroit.
Black Pioneers: An Untold Story by 
African Americans: Yesterday, today & tomorrow, the Waterloo experience : historical perspectives & profiles 1900-2001 by 
African Americans of Des Moines and Polk County by Black Pioneers: An Untold Story by 
Breathing the Freedom's Air: The African American Struggle for Equal Citizenship in Iowa, 1830-1900 by Bright Radical Star: Black Freedom and White Supremacy on the Hawkeye Frontier by 
Buxton: A Black Utopia in the Heartland (Expanded Edition) by 
Centerville: A Mid-American Saga by 
Creating the Black Utopia of Buxton, Iowa by 
The Des Moines, Iowa, African American Community and the Emergence and Impact of Black Panther Party, 1948-1973 (Book Chapter); IN: On the Ground: The Black Panther Party in Communities across America, pp. 186-223. by 
Emancipation's Diaspora: Race and Reconstruction in the upper Midwest by 
Exploring Buried Buxton: Archaeology of an Abandoned Iowa Coal Mining Town with a Large Black Population by 
George Washington Carver: A Life by 
Invisible Hawkeyes: African Americans at the University of Iowa During the Long Civil Rights Era by Iowa's Black Legacy by 
Life Narratives of African Americans in Iowa by 
Lost Buxton by 
Meatpackers: An Oral History of Black Packinghouse Workers and Their Struggle for Racial and Economic Equality by 
My Iowa Journey: The Life Story of the University of Iowa's First African American Professor by 
Necessary Courage: Iowa's Underground Railroad in the Struggle against Slavery by 
Outside In: African-American History in Iowa, 1838-2000 by 
Practical Internationalists: The Story of the Des Moines, Iowa, Black Panther Party (book chapter), IN: Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America; Ch 12, pp 282-299 by 
A Transplanted Chicago: Race, Place and the Press in Iowa City by 
White Racism on the Western Urban Frontier: Dynamics of Race and Class in Dubuque, Iowa (1800-2000) by 
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