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Representative Levin recounts Tate Arms, highlights NPS-supported preservation efforts
Summary
Representative Levin used a Black History Month presentation to recount the Tate Arms' role housing Black University of Iowa students when campus housing excluded them, and noted a National Park Service grant that supported nomination and signage projects for those properties.
Representative Levin delivered a Black History Month presentation focusing on the history of the Tate Arms and similar rooming houses that provided housing for Black students when campus dormitories were closed to them. Levin recounted the house's operation from 1913–1914 construction through the Tate family's ownership beginning in 1940, noting that "The Tates ran the house until 1961" and that the properties were later recognized and preserved with support from the National Park Service's African American Civil Rights grant program.
Levin described the National Park Service grant as a two-part project that nominated two Iowa City buildings associated with African American housing equity to the National Register of Historic Places and created educational signage and media about the sites. Levin framed the history as an opportunity to honor community members who supported access to higher education in a segregated era.
