African American Museum of Iowa’s ‘Freedom School’ weeklong program teaching Black history

CEDAR RAPIDS — A new weeklong summer learning program called Freedom School at the African American Museum of Iowa aims to immerse middle school students in history, civic responsibility and leadership this month.

Museum Executive Director Jacqueline Hunter — who will be teaching Freedom School — said one of the program’s goals is to give students career exposure by creating junior docents.

Junior docents are young volunteers who receive training to assist museum visitors by sharing information about exhibits and artifacts. They often gain experience and confidence in public speaking and knowledge about local history.

Freedom School is a reference to the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, which provided a reading and humanities curriculum of English, art, creative writing, math and science.

Registration is open for the Freedom School that will take place at the museum — 55 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids — July 14-18 from 9 a.m. to noon each day. It is designed for students entering 6th-8th grades.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided. The cost to register is $200, and scholarships are available to families who need assistance.

To register, visit blackiowa.org/event/aami-freedom-school.

Freedom School is open to students of any racial background and aims to center the experience of Black Americans throughout history.

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Hunter said schools often teach through a “white lens,” unintentionally or implicitly centering white perspectives and experiences and overlooking or not including the contributions and perspectives of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Hunter recalls as a sophomore in college coming across a book in her house called “We Are Not Afraid,” which tells the story of the 1964 murders of civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi.

“I remember reading that book and realizing I knew nothing about what was in it. There was a part of me that felt hurt that I didn’t know. That single book took me on a deeper dive that resulted in me becoming an educator and building my library at home that’s 1,000-plus books on African American history,” Hunter said.

“You matter and your story matters. Even if no one else will tell it, the African American Museum of Iowa absolutely will,” Hunter said.

Many students of color in Iowa never have a teacher who looks like them, Hunter said.

Hunter — who is a former K-12 history teacher — said students will learn at Freedom School through hands-on activities, with an emphasis on art, which historically has been “used as resistance.”

Students will be asked to identify a concern within the community and come up with ideas for how they could address it.

“America is a flawed nation, like every nation. I think what is beautiful about our flawed nation is that we’ve tried over and over and over again to get it right, and I think that matters,” Hunter said.

Hunter wants students to walk away from the week empowered and see themselves as leaders who can continue to lead in their schools and community. She wants them to understand that they “don’t have to wait until they’re adults to have a voice,” she said.

“Just like I tell my own children, we’re trying to leave the world better than we found it, and that’s every generation’s responsibility,” Hunter said.

To assist families with tuition to Freedom School, the museum is looking for donations. Anyone interested in sponsoring a student can contact the museum’s development director Emily Gruszczynski via email at egruszczynski@blackiowa.org.

To assist by purchasing learning materials for Freedom School, visit the museum’s wishlist on Amazon at a.co/0Q4bGRa.

The museum’s Freedom School is not affiliated with the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools, a national program that provides summer and after-school enrichment through a multicultural program model.

Tanager Place began offering CDF Freedom Schools in Cedar Rapids in 2021 as a six-week summer course. Tanager Place is a children’s human services agency offering programs focused on prevention, treatment and outreach.

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