Adventure Pass temporarily shut down in 2025

Due to software issues affecting all libraries using the service, the Iowa Adventure Pass program will temporarily shut down in 2025. Any reservation already made for 2025 will be honored, but we encourage anyone with a current reservation to print those passes immediately. Customers can still make new reservations for passes that must be used by December 31, 2024. The service will return at a later time. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Weather update for 12/14/2024

All locations of the Des Moines Public Library will be open normal hours Saturday, December 14, and all locations will serve as emergency warming shelters during open hours. 

A Story of Fort Des Moines: Charles Hamilton Houston

Program Type:

Educational

Age Group:

Adults
Please note you are looking at an event that has already happened.
Registration for this event is no longer open.

Event Details

In May 1917, the United States opens the very first Officers Training Camp for Black men in military history. The location – Fort Des Moines. Over the next six months, 1,200 Black men are trained to lead segregated commands in World War I, all the while knowing that their success or failure as leaders will be used by others as evidence of the abilities of their race. In this presentation, participants will learn about the experiences of these men, but closely examining one man, perhaps the most famous graduate of Fort Des Moines – Charles Hamilton Houston. By following his story, we see not only how these men shaped the United States military, but the Civil Rights movement as a whole.