About Us

Clockwise from top right; J.B. Morris,Sr., Jean Morris-Washington, Georgine Morris, and J.B. Morris, Jr.

James B. Morris Sr. was a leader and a role model for his generation of African Americans living in Iowa. A graduate of Hampton Institute in Virginia, J.B. became one of the first African American officers during World War I through the Colored Officers Training Program at Fort Des Moines. After the war, attorney Morris settled in Des Moines and emerged as one of the city's most influential black leaders. He was the editor and publisher of Iowa's oldest black newspaper, The Iowa Bystander, from 1922-1972. In 1925 he helped found the Negro Bar Association, now known as the National Bar Association. J.B. and his wife, Georgine, were staunch supporters of civil rights, and Georgine founded the Iowa State Conference of the NAACP in 1939. J.B. was a charter member, as well as serving as president of that organization.

In honor of the Morris family's contribution to law, journalism and the civil rights movement, a group of Des Moines community leaders established The James B. Morris Scholarship Fund in 1978.

The James B. Morris Scholarship Fund Board of Directors also administers two additional scholarships:

The Nelson Urban Scholarship for African American Teachers or education majors, enrolled in a full or part time program (undergraduate or graduate) involving significant contact with "at risk" minority students grades K-12 and the
Fred Johnson Youth Scholarship, aimed at African American High School seniors.

Please contact us for further information and the criteria for either scholarship.

If you have a scholarship you would like the Morris Board of Directors to administer for you , please feel free to contact the Fund Administrator at:

James B. Morris Scholarship Fund, Inc.

morris@assoc-mgmt.com