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University of Iowa Afro-American Cultural Center, 1968-2009

1968-09-17 Des Moines Register Article: "Afro-America Plan at U. of I."

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Des Moines register Page 11 Tues., Sept. 17, 1968 AFRO-AMERICA PLAN AT U.OF I> By Williams Simbro (Register Staff Writer) IOWA CITY, IA - University of Iowa officials hope the school's new Afro-American Cultural Center will service the needs of both black and white students. If remodelling is completed the center, located in a building at Market and Capital streets which formerly housed the University News Service, will open homecoming weekend, Oct. 11-12. Feel at Home Dr Philip Hubbard, dean of academic affairs and chairman of the Afro-American Studies Committee, said it hoped that black students from ghettos will be able to use the center as a means of achieving identity and feeling at home at the university. " At the center they will have a chance to talk with persons who have faced nd solved the same problems they face," Hubbard said. He stressed that another aim is to encourage white students to use the center as a focus of discussion and study of ghetto problems. It is hoped both blacks and whites will gain a better understanding of Afro-American cultural contributions., he said. The center will contain lounges for discussion and study. "Soul Food" Afro-American music records, historical accounts and lectures will be available. Afro-American painting and sculpture will be displayed. A kitchen will be available for cooking "soul food." All non-academic aspects of the cultural center will be financed by private contributions, Dr Hubbard said. The Afro-American Studies Committee includes representatives from all colleges of the university. It has been reviewing university operations to discover where changes might be needed to include more adequately Afro-American contributions in course offerings and library holdings. An Afro-American literature course, offered last year on an extra-curricular basis, will be among the regular offerings of the English department this year.
 
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