After visiting family in St. Louis, I began traveling west along interstate 70 from St. Louis taking exit-210 Near Wentzsville, MO, onto northbound route, 61 towards Lake Shore Resort & Campground in Oelwein, IA.
Oelwein IA will become my base to conduct research out the life of African-Americans living in Iowa. As I traveled I began to recall the significance of route 61, which I will cover in up coming blogposts.
The city of Cedar Rapids, IA, is where the African-American Museum of Iowa, is located fifty miles south of my campgrounds and my destination for research.
I visited the African American Museum of Iowa to research the history of African American’s and specifically African- American farmers and to identify and locate any current African-American farmers. The museum provided a wealth of information along with meeting several residents who spoke of their history growing up in Cedar Rapids IA. The following photos are from the museum and are available to view along with hundreds of displays and photos by clicking the link above.
The museum became the wealth of information I had hoped for my research providing detailed answers to my questions and allowing further research and discovery.
After several hours of research along with discussing the various illustrations of the many collections inside the museum, I was most astonished with the oral histories captured on video to hear the voices of knowledge.
There museum is fascinating and please take time to view the incredible histories of African-Americans of Iowa.
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