Stephanie Wright JD ’92

Stephanie Wright JD ’92Stephanie Wright made history when she was named an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Iowa in 1994 as the first African American prosecutor in the position. But she recently made New York Times headlines for a different reason: Her fight to be recognized in a local history book, The History of the District Court in the Northern District of Iowa (1882–2020) where her 24-year tenure, during which time she was the only Black prosecutor in the federal district, was left out entirely.

As a prosecutor, she specialized in going after businesses that didn’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and in 1997 she won a guilty plea in the 1997 case of a cross-burning outside the home of an interracial couple. After pursuing the book correction a few ways, including writing to the Justice Department, she finally got her due, with the pages in the book copies in libraries replaced.