The Katz Drugstore Protests in Des Moines, Iowa, began on July 7, 1948, when Edna May Griffin, John Bibbs, Leonard Hudson, and Griffin’s one-year-old daughter, Phyllis Griffin, entered the Katz Drug Store to eat at the lunch counter. The group was refused service because they were Black, leading Griffin to launch a protest against Katz’s racial discrimination practice. Her protest eventually resulted in a lawsuit filed by the State of Iowa, The State of Iowa v. Katz. The lawsuit came before an all-White jury that found the owner of Katz Drug Store, Maurice Katz, and the store manager, C.L. Gore, guilty of racial discrimination. They were fined $50 by the court.