African American History Month CELEBRATING THE IOWA AFRICAN AMERICAN HALL OF FAME BY GARY LAWSON February marks the celebration of African American History Month, also referred to as Black History Month, and I wanted to share some relevant history. During 1995, the Connect Foundation committed to organizing and producing an awards program that recognized the achievements and contributions of African Americans in Iowa. The awards program was designed as to not just focus on the job title of those nominated for induction into the Iowa African American Hall of Fame, but to center on what the nominee accomplished relative to improving the ‘quality of life for Iowans’. Nomination forms were sent to a wide spectrum of entities such as, but not limited to, businesses, community service organizations, government agencies, fraternities, and sororities. The first inductions occurred during 1996. As the Iowa African American Hall of Fame activities expanded, the Connect Foundation sought a ‘permanent home’ for managing the growing needs of the Iowa African American Hall of Fame activities, thereby entering into an ‘agreement’ (which is officially recognized by Iowa State University) with the Black Cultural Center, thereby transferring the Iowa African American Hall of Fame into the custody of the Black Cultural Center during 2002. On that basis, the Black Cultural Center’s Board of Directors officially created the ‘Iowa African American Hall of Fame Advisory Committee’. My motivation for transferring the Iowa African American Hall of Fame over to the Black Cultural Center at Iowa State University was due to my belief that there was an ‘increased opportunity’ to involve administrative staff, faculty members, and students in the process of expanding and improving the operations of the Iowa African American Hall of Fame. As it turned out, I was correct. The Black Cultural Center established ‘standing committees’ to oversee the activities of the Iowa African American Hall of Fame that were designed to function by Iowa State University’s administrative staff and faculty members, which also included some individuals ‘external’ to the Iowa State University organization. The President of the Board for the Black Cultural Center during that time was Dr. George A. Jackson. His leadership resulted in the establishment of a
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