{"id":2,"date":"2010-06-25T19:23:45","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T19:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2019-01-14T07:28:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-14T13:28:35","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iowappa.com\/?page_id=2","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>“Shattering Silence”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fawkes-Lee and Ryan are inspired by the banner photo spanning the top of each page on this site, \u201cShattering Silence\u201d by Des Moines artist James Ellwanger.\u00a0 It is in recognition of the first Iowa Supreme Court ruling \u2013 In Re: Ralph, decided in 1839.<\/p>\n

Ralph was a Missouri slave who bought his freedom from his owner in 1834 for the price of $550 plus interest.\u00a0 Ralph left Missouri and headed to Dubuque where he planned to make enough money working in lead mines to repay his former owner for his freedom over the next five years.\u00a0 But he didn\u2019t make enough to settle the loan and a couple of bounty hunters, with the assistance of the Dubuque County Sheriff, attempted to bring Ralph back to his former Missouri owner.<\/p>\n

The habeas corpus appeal was heard by the newly created Iowa Supreme Court.\u00a0 The Court ruled that Ralph must repay his debt, but \u201crejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iowa has been a leader in civil rights cases throughout this nation\u2019s history.\u00a0 The Iowa courts have been ahead of other states and the U.S. Supreme Court in deciding historic matters, such as banning miscegenation statutes more than 100 years before the U.S. Supreme Court would outlaw them nationwide, determining that \u201cequal but separate\u201d had no place in Iowa schools, a century before Brown v. Board of Education was decided, and Iowa courts were the first in the nation to allow women to practice law (1869).\u00a0 There are more examples too numerous to mention in a short blog.\u00a0 Fawkes-Lee and Ryan are excited to be a part of Iowa’s progress and history.<\/p>\n

Mission Statement<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To foster an environment that strengthens efforts to uphold Constitutional Freedoms and related social issues by empowering both individuals and groups using technology, legislative advocacy and targeted communication.<\/p>\n

Who we are<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fawkes-Lee & Ryan is a web-based, service-oriented, grassroots small business specifically structured to address the growing need to strengthen specific Constitutional Freedoms and related social issues. The company is divided into three divisions:<\/p>\n