Kreimer, Susan

Description

Photocopy only; Archives does not hold original. Contact the University Archives at the University of Iowa: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/contact/ Scanned with Ricoh Aficio 2335 scanner at 600 ppi, 8-bit grayscale. Archival tiff available. WOMEN'S ACHIEVEMENTS VlH/71 Hall of Fame inductee reflects on difficult past! Harper has worked all fier life to establish equality and justice for all lowans. Susan Kreimer the Daily lowan ; At age 11, Virginia Harper an(J her two sisters, aged 8 and 10, often went to the local movie theater in Fort Madison, Iowa. On one occasion, the elder Harper fpromised her parents that the hree siblings would not sit in the ^ix or seven rows on the left side Reserved for minorities. : The three African-Americans sat in the center, with Harper next to the aisle where an usher /epeatedly approached her during the show. He tapped Harper on the ehoulder, ordering her and her sisters to move. The three did not budge. jTo move would have betrayed ['everything my parents believed in >and taught us," Harper said. ; Harper, who is a 1992 inductee of l^he Iowa Women's Hall of Fame, Ijhas for many years believed in ;equality and justice for all lowans, •but her childhood experiences tes- !;tified that African^Americans are i;reated differently. % Harper reflected back to her trjring limes at the UI as one of five African-American women who chose to live in Currier Hall in :;i946. • The other 15 of the total 20 African-American women enrolled at the UI at the...

Record Contributed By

Daily Iowan (Iowa City, Iowa)