The African American Cultural and Historical Museum in Waterloo is opening to the public for the first time. In its 29-year history, the museum was only open by appointment, but that will change this month thanks to a nationwide fundraising effort.
Speaking at the covered pavilion behind the boxcar on stilts that constitutes the museum’s main building, museum chair Ryan Madison said the funds came from surprising places.
“I’d say about 98% of the money came from outside the city of Waterloo,” he said.
The museum staff has also grown in the past four months, from four board members to five, and several more regular volunteers.
One of those volunteers is researcher Jack Bauman from Cedar Falls, who said the museum is crucial in preserving the history and telling the story of the city’s African American community.
“Except for here, it’s not really being told,” Bauman said as he looked over a collection of stamps and envelopes featuring Black leaders he helped bring in from Dubuque.
“It’s very overshadowed by the Eurocentric history that gets taught a lot," he added. "A lot of it is kind of buried I’d say, and I believe this museum specifically just really uplifts telling those stories and bringing that history together.”
The museum traces the community’s story — from its African roots, with a collection of masks and wood carvings, through artifacts from the Great Migration, when the city’s African American population swelled as industrial jobs in the area became plentiful.
Stamps aside, most of its permanent collection has come from the residents of Waterloo. Rev. Marshaundus Robinson, a pastor in the neighborhood, said community support of the museum is laying the groundwork for the revitalization of the area.
“This is a step in the right direction,” he said, “If we know our history, I think it can help us. This is a seed. It’s the start of something bigger. Once you water it, give it a little sunshine, you can grow as many apples or oranges as you want.”
"It may look like just a little railcar, but it’s our history."Tawanna Vint, museum board member
Tawanna Vint, who's a museum board member, agrees with the reverend. She hopes the museum’s regular hours will encourage conversations about African American history with the city’s kids.
“I’d like to see the kids learn their history and know how important it is," Vint said. "It may look like just a little railcar, but it’s our history.”
It won’t likely remain just a railcar for very long. Madison said the board is planning an expansion. The museum sits on about an acre of land, and he’s hoping in the coming year to bring an historic schoolhouse onto the lot to house additional exhibits.
He said with the community support the museum’s received so far, anything’s possible — including transforming a defunct boxcar into a living and growing piece of Waterloo’s story.
“They’ve poured their hearts and souls into what we have today," Madison said. "Some may dismiss it as an old, rusty boxcar. But in truth, it’s a vessel for history.”
