1940 – The Black ISC Student Experience to 1950

August 24, 2022April 5, 2023

Pope, Louise Isabelle Marshall (M.S., Textiles and Clothing, 1940)

Louise Isabelle Marshall was born on 22 July 1917 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Thomas Marshall, a mail carrier, and his wife Harriet “Hattie” E. Lewis Marshall. While attending Lincoln University, an HBCU in Jefferson City, MO, Marshall was a staff member of the Archives yearbook, the Y.W.C.A., and the Alpha Iota Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

She earned a Bachelor’s of Science at Lincoln University in 1938 before heading to Ames, Iowa, where she earned a master’s degree in Textiles and Clothing in 1940. Her master’s thesis was entitled Micro-determination of water absorption in cotton fibers. Between 1939 and 1940 she lived at 1204 3rd Street, the Walter Madison family home.

On 6 August 1945, Louise married Alonzo Howard Pope in Boise, Idaho (Ancestry, n.d.). By 1950, the couple and their two sons, Alonzo, Jr., and Thomas, were living in Chicago, Illinois, where Louise was a homemaker and Alonzo, Sr., was employed as an office manager for Cook County Department of Public Welfare, Old Age Division.

Louise Isabelle Marshall Pope died in DeKalb, Georgia, on 14 February 1986 and is buried in Crest Lawn Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia.

Iowa State College Thesis Title: Micro-determination of water absorption in cotton fibers, 1940

Iowa State University Library Digital Repository Link: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/17679

Sources

Photo credit: Lincoln University. (1938). The Archives, 1938, p. 41. Retrieved from https://mdh.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/lincyrbk2/id/5876/rec/10

Ancestry.com. (n.d.). Idaho, U.S., county marriage records, 1864-1967. Louise Isabelle Marshall, Ada County, Marriage Ledger: 1945.

August 4, 2022April 24, 2023

Madison, Walter G. Jr. (B.S., Engineering, 1940)

Walter Garfield Madison, Jr., was born in Ames, Iowa, on 3 November 1918, the first-born son of parents Walter Garfield Madison (ISC class of 1914), the first licensed Black plumber in the state, and his wife, Gussie Irene Askew Madison. Walter, Jr., graduated from Ames High School in 1936 and enrolled in the Engineering program at Iowa State College. During his time at ISC, he was a member of the Iowa State Players.

He lived at home with his family at 1204 Third Street. His parents housed many Black ISC students there until they moved to live year round in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942. When he registered for the draft in 1940, Walter, Jr., was listed as self-employed by the W. G. Madison Company of Nashville, Tennessee, where he married Anita Smith. He died 22 August 1985, in Washington, D.C., after a career as an mechanical engineer.

Sources

Photo Credit: Iowa State University. (1938). The Bomb 1938. p. 118. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.lib.iastate.edu/islandora/object/isu:TheBomb_36547#page/192/mode/2up

August 2, 2022January 31, 2023

Madison, Archibald “Archie” Warren (Enrolled in Engineering Program, 1938-1940)

Archibald “Archie” Warren Madison was born 13 November 1920 in Ames, Iowa, to parents Walter Garfield Madison (ISC class of 1914), the first licensed Black plumber in the state, and his wife, Gussie Irene Askew Madison. Archie graduated from Ames high School in 1938 and enrolled in Iowa State College. During his time at ISC, Archie lived at home with his family at 1204 Third Street. His parents housed many Black ISC students there until they moved to live year around in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942. (Walter Madison had already taken a job there as Chief Engineer at Fisk University in 1938.) Archie left Iowa State after two years in the engineering program to move to Nashville, where, according to his 1944 Army enlistment record, his civil employment fell into the category of “plumbers, gas fitters, and steamfitters.” He had joined his father’s business as an employee of Madison Plumbing and Heating before the company gained its government contract at Tuskegee Institute, which is likely where he met his future wife, Daile Sheppard Moore. The couple married in June 1942.

In 1944, Archie enlisted in the Army as a Private, serving in the Pacific Theater during World War Two. After his discharge, he re-enlisted in 1947 and served as a Lieutenant in an Army engineering dump truck company in Occupied Korea. He died there 5 October 1948 and was survived by his widow and three children: Beth Irene, Gail Paulette, and Archie Warren Madison, Jr. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Nashville.

August 1, 2022February 8, 2023

Bowman, James Everett (Attended ISC, Veterinary Science Program, 1940-1944)

James Everett Bowman was born to Floyd and Adelaide Bowman in Des Moines, Iowa, on 25 October 1922 and graduated from North High School in 1940. While at Iowa State he lived at various locations in Ames: 218 Lincoln Way (1940-1941), 2512 ½ Lincoln Way (1941-1942), and 117 Welch Avenue (Fall 1942).

Like other men of his day, he registered for the draft, but according to his story, he was told that since there were so few Negroes in college, as long as he kept his grades up, they wouldn’t send him to war. However, Bowman said he still felt the need to serve: “‘I’d go to church and see my friends’ parents and they’d say, “Jimmy what are you still doing here? My son is over there getting shot at.” Well, I got to thinking about that and decided I wanted to carry my load. I was thinking, “well, I do want to fly an airplane”‘” (“James Everett Bowman,” 2019).

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which he heard about while in the ISC library, Bowman continued to think about enlisting or at least doing his part in the war effort. He left his study of Biology at Iowa State and worked at the Des Moines Ordnance Plant for a time as a janitor, then as a chemist at the Ford plant. He finally entered the Army Air Corps in 1943 at Camp Dodge, Iowa, and was sent to Biloxi, Mississippi, for his training. He survived a plane crash in South Carolina before going on to complete his Class 44-K-SE Tuskegee Airmen training on February 1, 1945, becoming a flight officer. Bowman didn’t see battle because the war ended just a few months later, but his success helped prove that Blacks were capable of piloting aircraft.

Upon returning to Des Moines, Bowman obtained a B.S. from Drake University. Turned away by Des Moines schools in 1947, he taught education and psychology at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, while obtaining a master’s degree there in 1949. Later, he returned to Des Moines and taught science at Weeks Middle School and completed his doctorate at Drake in 1975. He took on administrative roles in the district and eventually become the first Black Assistant Superintendent of Instruction for Des Moines Public Schools. Active in a number of community organizations, Bowman also lectured nationally on multicultural education, black history, and the experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen.

With his wife, Gloria, the two raised two daughters, Linda and Gale. Linda (Bowman) Lane was also a former Des Moines schools administrator. Bowman died on 13 January 2014, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Sources

Photo Credit: https://cafriseabove.org/james-everett-bowman/

James Everett Bowman. (2019, June 6). CAF Rise Above. https://cafriseabove.org/james-everett-bowman/