Discover the proud history of African American service people in the United States military from the Revolutionary War to the present. Topics include African American Iowans in the Civil War, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, desegregation of the armed forces, and many more. About the Series: Join us at the […]
Visit Buxton, a bustling mining town at the turn of the last century. This important place in Iowa’s history was referred to as a “utopia” by the majority of the town’s residents, African Americans who were welcomed with little racism and discrimination. Step into the YMCAs, visit the elementary schools, and meet some of Buxton’s […]
In this talk, Professor Simon Balto (University of Iowa) will talk about his recent book on policing and race in Chicago, between 1919 and the early 1970s. His talk will offer better historical context for understanding modern movements like Black Lives Matter, and will also serve as an opportunity to reflect upon the 100-year anniversary […]
Iowa’s athletes have long impacted their teams, communities, and the sports they played, but African Americans did so while facing off against more than just the opposing team. They fought for the right to equal treatment on and off the field. Highlighting people such as Iowan and Olympian Thomas Hill, Drake University athlete Johnny Bright […]
During and after the Civil War, thousands of newly liberated African Americans left the South and migrated to Iowa and other Midwestern places. Many of those migrants had experienced both enslavement and military service with the Union Army. This presentation will share the inspiring personal stories of African American Civil War veterans who settled in […]
This presentation explores African Americans who invented or improved dozens of items we take for granted every day. Many of these men and women are little-known, and few are household names. Some had very little formal education or training, yet others were college-educated or earned doctorates. All made important contributions to our lives through perseverance, […]
Rescheduled from May 23, this event is now taking place on August 8. As countless writers and scholars have chronicled, black migration transformed the culture, politics, and social life of the United States in the mid-twentieth century, when the sons and daughters of Mississippi and Alabama and Georgia and North Carolina set off for new […]
Sean Donaldson, from the African American Museum of Iowa, will take us from African beats to the jazz of the Harlem Renaissance to the popular music of the Civil Rights movement. The influences of traditional African music can be seen in the spirituals sung by African Americans while they worked as slaves, elements of spirituals […]
About the Series: Join us at the Museum for free monthly presentations by Sean Donaldson, Museum Educator. These one-hour presentations will focus on a variety of topics ranging from broad African American history and the evolution of African american music, to Iowa's African Americans in sports and African American holiday traditions. With twelve opportunities to […]
About the Series: Join us at the Museum for free monthly presentations by Sean Donaldson, Museum Educator. These one-hour presentations will focus on a variety of topics ranging from broad African American history and the evolution of African american music, to Iowa's African Americans in sports and African American holiday traditions. With twelve opportunities to […]
