Willie Stevenson Glanton

Willie Stevenson Glanton was born and raised in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Her father, E.S. Stevenson was a hotel manager, Baptist church deacon, and founder of the Hot Springs, Arkansas Negro Civic League. He believed that women should be teachers.

Willie attended Tennessee State College in Nashville, TN where she was a member of the History Study Club, Forensics Club, Alba Ross Social Club, and Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She graduated in 1942 with degrees in education and business. Willie Stevenson went on to attend Robert H. Terrell law school in Washington, D.C.

While married to Iowa’s first Black judge, Willie Stevenson Glanton continued to pursue her own remarkable career. She continued to practice law at Glanton and Glanton law firm and travelled to Africa and Southeast Asia as part of a U.S. State Department sponsored cultural exchange. In 1956, Mrs. Glanton was appointed Assistant Polk County Attorney, marking the first time a Black person or a woman had held such a position in Iowa, or the U.S. as a whole. In 1964, Willie Stevenson Glanton was elected to the Iowa State Legislature, making her, again, the first woman and first Black person to hold office. During her tenure with the Iowa State Legislature, Mrs. Glanton championed diversity and equity. She was a staunch and vocal opponent of the death penalty and an early advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Mrs. Glanton was an outspoken supporter of abortion rights and the federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).  In 1980, Mrs. Glanton became the first Black woman and first Black person to be elected to the Des Moines City Council.

Throughout her life, Willie Stevenson Glanton was active in a variety of causes and organizations, including the League of Women Voters, National Foundation and Society for Crippled Children, Wilkie House, NAACP, Corinthian Baptist Church, Iowa Association of Colored Women, State and County Bar Associations, Good Government Panel, Urban Renewal Board, Des Moines International Commission for Adult Education, Des Moines Board of International Education, Polk County Welfare Department, Des Moines Public Library, and the YWCA.