History on hold: African American museum looks to revitalize, serve
By HOLLY HUDSON HILL – Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa (TNS)
WATERLOO — There’s something brewing in Waterloo.
In the last few months, a group of passionate people have come together to tend to some unfinished business – the African American Historical and Cultural Museum.
Efforts to create a facility to house and share artifacts depicting the local black community’s history and culture began more than a quarter of a century ago when Ada Treadwill and Ruth Anderson founded the museum in 1996.
Today, a new board – consisting of Marcia Griffin, RayVynn Schauf, Terrance Campbell, Tawanna Vint and board president Ryan Madison – has been seated, and members are anxious to bring the site to its full potential.
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The African American Historical & Cultural Museum, 1320 E. Fourth St., Waterloo, has a new board and a new vision for the facility.
Currently the museum is housed in a railroad boxcar donated by Canadian National Railway in 2005, significant because of the number of Black families who came to Waterloo as part of the Great Migration in the early 1900’s to work during a railroad strike. Black people were not allowed to live in certain parts of the city – known as redlining – and some were actually housed in boxcars.
The museum sits at 1320 E. Fourth St., near Sullivan Park. A ramp leads to the front door, and a pavilion has been built in the rear.
The board’s vision is to move a historical schoolhouse from Denver to the property, which would give them an additional 3,000 square feet. The boxcar measures less than 600 square feet.
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Ryan Madison, president of the African American Historical & Cultural Museum, is pictured in the facility at 1320 E. Fourth St., Waterloo.
“It would be a significant space increase,” Madison said. “It would give us the flexibility to do so much more.”
The project will cost an estimated $400,000 to move the schoolhouse, build a foundation and fit it with plumbing and electrical.
The museum currently has a fund with the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa for donations, though it has not been very successful to this point. While board members have pitched in about $11,000, the general public has donated less than $500.
“It’s time for the community to grab on and support the mission,” Madison said. “It’s the responsibility of the community that our history is preserved for future generations.”
He said the museum has received support from the Grout Museum District, including donated display cases. Grout employees Nick Erickson, registrar, and Al Sweeney, director of facilities and exhibits, have both shared their knowledge and advice.
“We have a good working relationship with the Grout,” Madison said. “We hope that continues.”
He also credited the Grout with its permanent exhibit “Black Stories Collective” – “although we want to offer stories of the African American experience told by African Americans.”
Madison said, “I learned our history from my grandma, from my uncles telling stories. We have to record our own stories.”
He would love to have history professors or history buffs share their knowledge and volunteer at the museum.
The board plans to have the museum open three days a week from spring to late fall.
“But it all hinges on volunteers and community support,” Madison said. “We want people to connect with their past. It is our responsibility as a group, as human beings, to capture that history.”
The museum already has exhibits planned for 2025, including “Fade,” the history and significance of Black-owned barber shops in the area.
“They not only provided a health service, but they were often a safe haven to have a conversation about politics or collaborate about jobs,” Madison said.
Another planned exhibit is “Stamped,” which will look at historical African Americans who appear on stamps.
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