Luther T. Glanton (portrait)
*Luther T. Glanton was born on this date in 1910. He was a Black attorney, judge, and civil rights, activist.
Luther T. Glanton Jr. was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the fourth of nine children of Luther T. Glanton Sr., a teacher and custodian at a local bank, and Katherine (Leigh) Glanton, a midwife and homemaker. After graduating from Murfreesboro's segregated high school, where he earned the nickname "Tank" for his fearless, headlong rushes as a running back, Glanton went to Tennessee State University. There he earned a bachelor's degree in 1939 and won the attention and admiration of his history professor, Merle R. Epps, a Drake University graduate who successfully interceded on Glanton's behalf for admission to Drake's law school.
Despite being barred from the university's dormitories and dining hall, Glanton graduated from Drake Law School in 1942. After graduating, Glanton joined the U.S. Army and served as an intelligence officer during World War II. After the war, he served on the staff of U.S. Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson at the Nuremberg trials. He remained active in the U.S. Army Reserve Corps for many years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Upon his return to Des Moines in 1947, Glanton joined Henry T. McKnight, Virgil Dixon, and W. Lawrence Oliver in a law practice. He also plunged into the 20th-century American Civil Rights movement.
He joined the Des Moines branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and chaired its Veterans Affairs Committee. He was vice president of their State Conference and president the following year. In 1950 he and others vigorously enforce the Iowa Civil Rights Act because "there are eating houses, restaurants, and even beer taverns in various cities in Iowa that have displayed glaring posters stating that they will not serve Negroes or colored persons." This effort led to a major victory over de facto segregation in Iowa four years later when, in the case of Amos v. Prom, Inc., the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of African Americans who sued the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake for refusing them admission.
Glanton was the first Black Assistant Polk County Attorney in 1951. Congressman Neal Smith later noted, "Luther was one of the toughest prosecutors ever and was not easily fooled. He once told a jury he wouldn't believe the defendant even if the defendant said he was lying." Glanton's zeal and substance were probably the main factors in Governor Herschel Loveless's decision to appoint him to fill a vacancy on the Des Moines Municipal Court in 1958, to which he won the election the following year. His success as a municipal judge led to his appointment as an associate district judge in 1973 and as Iowa's first Black district judge in 1976, a position he held until his retirement in 1985.
Glanton Jr. opened many doors with his persistence, passion, professionalism, and social skills. Chief among these was his compassion. A colleague was amazed "that someone of your success and stature in the community has retained his compassion for the personal problems and well-being of others." Glanton established Iowa's first chapter of Omega Psi Phi, his college fraternity, and was elected its first Basileus (president) in 1947. Soon afterward, he and others formed the Olympian Club, a men's social club that promoted athletic excellence among young Black men.
Perhaps his most significant achievement in social community building came in 1984 when he led the founding of Gamma Eta, the Iowa chapter of the Sigma Pi Phi fraternity. But he probably would have said that his greatest social success was winning and maintaining the 50-year love of his life, Willie (Stevenson) Glanton, to whom he would have credited his success. His longtime law partner Virgil Dixon described Glanton as a "proud, generous, compassionate father [of his adopted son, Luther T. Glanton III], husband, public servant, loving brother, lifelong friend, and dedicated practitioner." Luther T. Glanton Jr. died on July 4, 1991.
