Program: Historic Ground Breaking Celebration for the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa

Description: This document is a printed program. A handwritten note on the front reads “Attended by Bruce Koerber”. The front bears a graphic of Iowa, overlaid with outlines of the contiguous United States and Africa, with a black heart with rays emanating from it overlaid on Cedar Rapids. A PDF of the original is reproduced below.

Cover:

HISTORIC GROUND BREAKING CELEBRATION

December 11, 1999
First Street & Twelfth Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM AND CULTURAL CENTER OF IOWA

Inside:

GROUND BREAKING EVENT
10:30 a.m.
Program

Music: Isiserettes Drill & Drum Corps Des Moines
Welcome: Rick Coleman, Master of Ceremonies Sports Anchor, KWWL
Star Spangled Banner: Pearl Scott-Gill, Ascott Transcriptions
Invocation: Pastor Duane Hicks Kenwood Park Presbyterian Church
Introduction of Special Guests: Rick Coleman, MC
Honored Speakers:
Joseph McGill, Jr., Executive Director African Amiercan Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa
Thomas Moore, President African American Heritage Foundation of Iowa
Lois Eichacker, Chair of the Iowa Department of Economic Development Board
Mayor Lee Clancey Mayor of Cedar Rapids
Lumir Dostal, Supervisor Linn County Board of Supervisors
Rep. Wayne Ford Representative, State of Iowa
Congressman Jim Leach, U.S. House of Representitives
Lift Every Voice and Sing: Pearl Scott-Gill
Closing Remarks: Rick Coleman, MC
Benediction: Father Charles Lang All Saints Catholic Church
Ground Breaking: Assisted by Ambassadors from Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce

Ellen Taylor

Today, we honor Ellen Taylor, the first known settler in Cedar Rapids of African descent. She was born into slavery in the first half of the 19th century, and in 1865, Ellen Taylor came to Iowa and made Cedar Rapids her home. Her spirit is with us in celebration of the very special occasion.

From the office of the Governor

As Governor, one of my primary goals is to assure that Iowans are offered the very best education available. The African American Heritage Foundation of Iowa assists me to achieve this goal with their vision of a magnificent new learning center.

The African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa is unique in its mission. World-class exhibits, educational programming and cooperative teaching efforts will provide Iowans an important resource and valuable learning environment. By incorporating such state-of-the-art educational tools as the ICN (Iowa Communication Network) to provide the first ever, statewide multi-cultural outreach network, Iowa’s rich cultural history will be available for all Iowans.

I am pleased to promot the creation of the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa.

Sincerely,
Thomas J. Vilsack
Governor

Back:

STAR SPANGLED BANNER

O say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and brights stars, thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air<
Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

LIFE EVERY VOICE AND SING

Life every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith
that the dark past has taught us;
Sing a song full of the hope
that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod.
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that
with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path
through the blood of the slaughtered.
Out from gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light.
Keep us forever in the path we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places,
our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world,
we forget Thee,
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God
True to our native land.