My Family History

My mother and father lived in Durant Mississippi. My mother was what is now called, a full time homeworker. My dad was a mechanic for the Illinois Central Railroad. In approximately 1945 the railroad afforded him an opportunity to move to Dubuque, Iowa. When I was four years old (1958), in order to provide a better life for their seven children, my parents uprooted us from family, friends, and everything else familiar and moved the family to Waterloo, Iowa. My dad was promoted with each move and retired as a supervisor.

Living in Iowa

I live in Waterloo Iowa, Waterloo is one of the most diverse cities in Iowa. This community provided an opportunity to live every day in rich diverse environment. I think living in a community that provides an opportunity to have a hands-on approach to understanding and valuing diversity which I believe is priceless. However, Iowa as a whole, to be honest, means that I am part of a state that doesn’t truly value diversity and has a lot to learn about valuing diversity.

My Dreams

As a retiree, my next chapter will be as busy, if not more so than my previous ones. I plan to do all those things I believe everyone longs to do during retirement - enjoy my family and friends, travel, write, and continue serving my community.

A Teacher Who Changed My Life

Dr. Walter Cunningham, Math teacher, McKinstry Junior High/East High schools

The educator who changed my life was Dr. Walter Cunningham. He was the first teacher that pushed and motivated me to take courses that would prepare me to pursue a college education. While promoting furthering education to his students, Mr. Cunningham practice what he preached. Mr. Cunningham a middle school math teacher became Dr. Cunningham a high school principal and a district administrator. Many years later, after I had graduated from UNI, I saw him continuing to mentor and motivate other generations, just like he did for me. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who did not know his name or was not impacted by him in some positive way.

My Favorite Thing

My object is an older African man playing a xylophone. After years of preparation, training and education he now has mastered his craft. He now makes beautiful music, with what seems like ease. To me he symbolizes the old adage of opportunity meeting preparation to achieve success. He symbolizes that when give the opportunity to develop your God given talent, learn new skills and acquire new knowledge, you will have the recipe for success. Anyone can make beautiful music.

What #DIVERSITYISOURSTRENGTH means to me

It means valuing life to the fullest! Diversity means different voices, different perspectives, a richness of ideas that results in the ability to see, understand, and provide the proper services for all and thereby meet the needs of our entire community. It means building a broader, more successful, more encompassing present and future.

Celebrating Our Diversity

Iowans champion education. Through this project, which focuses on Black Hawk County, Iowa, we acknowledge the state’s historical commitment to educational quality. We also urge Iowa educators to celebrate and capitalize on the rich diversity in our state and our classrooms.

The Iowa portraits above represent a few of the leaders, educators, and students in the Cedar Valley who will help guide our region and Iowa into the coming decades. We represent a sliver of Iowa’s educational diversity in Black Hawk County. Hover over each of our faces to find a short biography documenting our unique paths to Iowa, and summarizing our dreams, talents, distinctive qualities, and the teachers who changed our lives by treating us as special individuals.

Our various family stories are tied to opportunity and community. Like all Iowans who are not First Nation people, we are Iowa immigrants; some of our families arrived more than a century ago, others only recently. It’s this racial, ethnic, religious, and gender diversity, constantly changing and remixing each decade, that has made Iowa stronger, as each generation brings new traditions, enterprises, and perspectives to sustain the hundreds of communities between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. And yet, Iowa is too often defined and celebrated exclusively in terms of its White and rural cultural mainstream. (Ask yourself or someone else to envision what an Iowan looks like.)

We cannot say we want equal educational opportunities for all children and then fight to advantage our own. -Nikole Hannah-Jones

Iowa Nice... for Everyone

When we reflected on what it means to be Iowan, the idea of “Iowa Nice” percolated through our answers – the notion that Iowans are unconditionally nonjudgmental and community-minded. Iowa is a good place. And yet, many of us featured here – who are not White or rural – have not experienced “Iowa Nice” in exactly the same way. To fully celebrate our diversity as our strength, we must also address inequality as our challenge. As we have been reminded by yet another tragic murder of an African American man by law enforcement in our nation, this is a challenge for the soul of our society in Black Hawk County, the state, and across the country. We find hope in the millions who have peacefully protested, here and around the world, and gather strength from their vision to live up to our democratic ideals.

We get enormous inspiration from Waterloo, Iowa native Nikole Hannah-Jones – a New York Times journalist, originator of the 1619 Project, and Pulitzer Prize winner. Her career as a critical commentator on race in America was shaped by her daily bus ride in the 1970s from the East Side of Waterloo to the West Side, where she attended school. She could not help but be struck by the inequality she observed riding from one end of town to the other.

Through this project, we’d like to challenge Cedar Valley/Black Hawk County residents, all Iowans, and Iowa educators specifically, to consider what Iowa Nice means to our Iowa community writ large. How can we ensure that Iowa Nice extends to all Iowans? How can we see all residents of Iowa – regardless of racial, ethnic, gender, or religious status – as embodying the kind, humble, determined spirit of Iowa Nice? The answer lies not only in understanding each of our personal histories, but also listening to each other’s dreams for the future.

Dr. Shuaib Meacham, Literacy Education, University of Northern Iowa

Dr. Bettina Fabos, Interactive Digital Studies, University of Northern Iowa

Mickye Johnson