“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work." - Toni Morrison Earlier this month I had BIG PLANS to do a weekly blog on some of St. Paul AME church's notable members as part of the congregation's 150th anniversary celebration. I did two. Then I started … Continue reading The Purpose of Racism
Gertrude Rush
This month, St. Paul A.M.E. Church celebrates 150 years. We're going to celebrate with them, and take a closer look at some of the congregation's most influential members and their contributions to Black life in central Iowa. Today we'll kick off our series with Gertrude Rush. Mrs. Rush caught my attention as the only woman … Continue reading Gertrude Rush
How We Work (part 4)
We continue our discussion of applying Agile principles to historic research on this sunny Monday. Today we're talking about lessons learned, and the Agile ritual of a regularly scheduled look-back. The lessons learned exercise is one of my favorites. Each week, Amani, Evelynn and I take a look back at the week and hash out … Continue reading How We Work (part 4)
How We Work (part 3)
In today's edition of "How We Work," I am going to talk about the Agile concept "Definition of Done." What does it mean, "Definition of Done." Well, it's how you know you're done. In software development, whatever you were assigned to do is supposed to do something at the end. Does the thing do what … Continue reading How We Work (part 3)
How We Work (part 2)
In today's edition of How We Work, I'm going to talk about how we apply the Agile concept of "the backlog" to historic research. The backlog is basically the pile of work that is ready to be worked. Our backlog is housed in Trello, a free project management software by Atlassian, and has been a … Continue reading How We Work (part 2)
How We Work (part 1)
One of my old teachers used to tell us that organization was the key to success. 16 year old me found this cheesy and annoying. 46 year old me knows it's true. I chose an Agile-like structure for a variety of reasons, the first of which, is that Agile is familiar to me. Agile is … Continue reading How We Work (part 1)
Would you consider preaching for $1 and a chicken too?
Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines, Iowa has been through various different leaders in their time, but there’s one pioneering pastor who sparked hope through his sermons. And, according to a clipping from The Des Moines Register, he was given $1 and a chicken to preach on Sundays, but that's not all he … Continue reading Would you consider preaching for $1 and a chicken too?
What’s Old is New Again
A few days ago I came across a snippet in the Des Moines Register Archives from April 8, 1934: Bethel A.M.E. Church was hosting a lecture on Black Maternal Health, given by Dr. Nelle Noble. This short newspaper clipping from nearly 90 years ago is illustrative of the many ways Black Churches filled the gaping … Continue reading What’s Old is New Again
What else do y’all do?
I was reflecting on how irregular our social media and blog posts are. It occurred to me that people might be interested in why that is and what else we are up to at the Iowa Black History Research Collective. We have families. All of our board members have children in our lives, who we … Continue reading What else do y’all do?
Spark
Shortly before my grandfather died in 2017, the family church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa was designated as a historic site. It felt like such a tremendous honor given that my grandfather had been Bishop over Iowa's Church of God In Christ pretty much my entire life. The idea of our family's church being recognized felt … Continue reading Spark