Although
the African-American population in Iowa is small, about
2.7 percent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008), they make about
13.9 percent in Waterloo (2000) and 8.2 percent in Black
Hawk County (2008). African-Americans have been continuing
to pursue recognition for their contributions to the economic
development, cultural richness, social awareness, and political
justice in Iowa (Barnes & Bumpers, 2000). However, African-American
communities have been under-represented by Iowa’s mass media.
In
2005, the African-American
Historical and Cultural Museum in Waterloo (AAHCM) initiated
a project entitled African-American Voices of the Cedar
Valley, conducting a series of extensive interviews with
representative African-Americans in the Cedar Valley. The
original purpose of the project was to document the life
experiences of ten African-Americans interviewees in the
State of Iowa. We started to utilize digital video technology
to document and preserve their stories as typical life-experience
of African-Americans in the Cedar Valley and a unique aspect
of the Iowa cultural experience. We were convinced that
by documenting their experience through an oral history
presentation, viewers would appreciate hearing voices of
African-Americans, their insights and contributions to their
community.
Ten
DVDs containing the series of interviews were completed
in 2006. They have been broadcast on various television
stations in Iowa since 2006. The responses to those stories
from schools, churches, the media, and the community have
been phenomenal. Given the success of the first set of ten
DVDs, we have extended the project to the second set of
ten interviews, and explored the possibility of doing the
project on a statewide basis.
We
have been continuing to promote this project by seeking
the support of the electronic media and newspapers around
the state of Iowa. During the months of January and February
2006 (Black History Month) several of Iowa’s major newspapers
and networks used material from African-American Voices
of the Cedar Valley for their programming. For instance,
the Des Moines Register, Waterloo Courier and Iowa City
Press Citizen published articles on the project. Furthermore,
two of the State’s institutions, the University of Northern
Iowa and the University of Iowa campus newspapers published
articles on the project. In Waterloo, Channel 7 (KWWL) broadcasted
public service announcements (PSA) on the first ten videos
during the months of January and February. In addition,
the Waterloo and Cedar Fall’s Public Access Channels and
University of Iowa Television (UITV) in Iowa City broadcasted
the videos. Other stations in Iowa that broadcasted PSAs
include Channel 2 (KGAN) and 9 (KCRG) in Cedar Rapids and
Channel 5 and 8 in Des Moines. We are working with these
resources in the state of Iowa and other communication outlets
to increase the exposure of the project during the 2010
Black History Month.
--
By David Jackson & Joyce Chen --
