The Johnson County Board of Supervisors passed a $118,250 agreement for an exhibit that will include a bronze statue commemorating Lulu Merle Johnson, the county’s eponym.
The supervisors approved an amount not to exceed $118,250 with eSJay Creative Works to design plans for the exhibit. Johnson was the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in the state of Iowa from the University of Iowa.
This consideration is the latest in a series of approvals that have gone through the Board of Supervisors when the exhibit project began in 2021.
The project is slated for completion in September 2025 to coincide with Johnson’s 100-year anniversary of enrolling at the UI. Along with the statue, interpretive panels, and a short film documenting Johnson’s legacy and the process of renaming Johnson County in her honor will be included.
Out of their $118,250 proposal, specific allocations include the development of the panels detailing Johnson’s life and contributions, the creation of the exhibit catalog, and the production of the short film.
Born in Gravity, Iowa, to a prominent Black family, Johnson navigated the challenges of segregation at the UI. Her activism included protests against discriminatory policies, such as housing segregation and the university’s swimming test policy, which required separate facilities for Black students.
Throughout her career, Johnson faced institutional racism. Still, she made significant academic contributions, particularly in the study of slavery in Northern U.S. states, which taught the practice as beneficial to enslaved people at the time.
Unable to find a teaching job in Iowa, she worked at historically Black colleges and universities, eventually becoming a history professor and dean of women at Cheyney State.
The agreement with eSJay work was spearheaded by Sonya Jackson, Johnson’s great niece and Rebecca Conard and Professor Emeritus of History Rebecca Conard.
Johnson was officially made the eponym of Johnson County on June 24, 2021, by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. Richard Mentor Johnson, the ninth vice president of the United States, was the original namesake of the county.
At the time, the supervisors said Lulu Johnson was more deserving of the namesake than the former vice president who was an owner of enslaved people.