The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Guest opinion: New scholarship celebrates local civil-rights activist Stephen Smith

Guest+opinion%3A+New+scholarship+celebrates+local+civil-rights+activist+Stephen+Smith

A new scholarship celebrates local civil-rights activist Stephen Smith, who stood up for what he believed in.

Why do we give? In my case, I give in honor of a friend I never met. That might sound odd, but hear me out.

As the university’s archivist, I learn about remarkable people who have shaped and influenced our institution and community. Some are widely recognized; others are lesser-known or even forgotten. So it might have been with Steve Smith, the friend I never met.

One day in 2012, a researcher asked me what information we had about this one-time student. I recalled his name from decades-old newspaper clippings in our files — he was a civil-rights and antiwar activist — and I was chagrined to learn that we had nothing else about him. From that day on, I was determined to learn more.

Stephen Lynn Smith (1944-2009) was from Marion. The 1963 Marion High School graduate enrolled in the UI’s Army ROTC program that summer, majoring in engineering. Perhaps inspired by the March on Washington that August, Steve embraced the Civil Rights Movement. He joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and in 1964, he participated in Freedom Summer, registering African Americans in Mississippi to vote. He was one of more than 800 volunteers from across the country.

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The work was dangerous. On the night of July 15, 1964, Steve and a coworker, Eric Morton, were delivering voter-registration materials when they were stopped and beaten severely by a local posse at roadside outside Jackson. The assailants were never brought to justice. The incident is recounted in Mississippi Black Paper, a report prepared by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Back in Iowa, Steve continued his civil-rights work. In March 1965, he led an eight-day hunger strike in downtown Iowa City in support of the Selma-to-Montgomery marchers. An antiwar activist, Steve burned his draft card in the IMU that fall, only the second person in the nation to do so after Congress criminalized such protest.

In 2000, Steve — by this time an instructor at Kirkwood Community College — suffered a massive heart attack and stroke. Though he survived, the incident incapacitated him for the remainder of his life. He died at a Waterloo care facility nine years later, at age 64.

I never met Steve. I only learned of his good work years after his death. What I can do now is remember him. With his family’s approval, my spouse and I created the Stephen Lynn Smith Memorial Scholarship in recognition of his courage and dedication to social justice. We invite you to consider giving in honor of someone you know who has made a difference.

  David F. McCartney

University of Iowa Archivist
University of Iowa Libraries 2017
We Are Phil Co-Chair

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