“Iowa Nice,” a 2012 video that received over a million YouTube views and resurfaced during the recent midterm elections, informs us that Iowa is not filled with “knee-jerk conservative reactionaries” the way many of us think it, and every other Midwestern state, is. In fact, in 2009 Iowa became one of the first states to legalize gay marriage, and it was the first state to admit a woman to the state bar, the video proudly tells us.
Iowa isn’t the only Midwestern state with some interesting firsts. Check out these other states’ historical and legislative acts that paved the way for worthy causes.
Illinois: Gay rights
1924: The first recognized gay rights group in the U.S. was founded in Chicago.
1961: Illinois was the first state to decriminalize private homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Plus: Chicago native and lifelong resident Carol Moseley Braun was the first — and remains the only — African-American woman to have ever been elected to the Senate, where she served from 1993 to1998.
Indiana: Publicly-funded education
1816: The state constitution was the first in the country to set up a state-funded public school system.
Iowa: Educational opportunities for women
1855: The University of Iowa became the first public state university to allow women to attend alongside men.
1869: Arabella Mansfield was admitted to the Iowa State Bar Association, making her the first female lawyer in the U.S.
Kansas: First woman in politics
1887: Susanna Salter was elected mayor of the small town of Argonia, Kansas, in 1887. This made her not only the first woman elected to the position of mayor in the country, but the first woman elected to any political office.
Minnesota: Protecting clean air
1975: Minnesota was the first state to enact a Clean Indoor Air Act. While the act did not ban smoking, it did mean the introduction of smoking areas and non-smoking areas.
1985: Minnesota implemented the first state-funded program for smoking cessation through cigarette tax money.
Nebraska: Women’s sexual rights
1976: Up to this time, “marital rape exemption” laws meant that a spouse could not be convicted of rape. Nebraska became the first state to abolish this exemption, making spousal rape illegal.
Plus: In 1986, Nebraska was the first state to hold a race for governor between two women. Republican Kay Orr beat out Democrat Helen Boosalis.
Ohio: Groundbreaking education policies
1935: Oberlin College was the first school to have a policy of not considering race when accepting students. Although it’s up for debate, Oberlin is often cited as the first college to accept black students.
1950: Oberlin College granted a certificate in literature to Lucy Ann Stanton, making her the first black woman to receive a four-year college education.
Plus: Ohio was also the first state to elect an African-American as mayor of a major city when Carl Stokes became the mayor of Cleveland in 1967. (The first black mayor of any municipality was Pierre Caliste Landry, who was elected mayor of Donaldsonville, Louisiana, in 1868.)
Wisconsin: Workers’ rights and gay rights
1911: Wisconsin passed the first workers’ compensation law in the country.
1932: Wisconsin was the first state to pass unemployment insurance legislation.
1959: Wisconsin granted public-section unions the right to negotiate contracts.
1982: Wisconsin became the first state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
1998: Tammy Baldwin was elected to the House of Representatives, making her the first openly gay representative in the U.S. She became the first openly gay senator when she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012.
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