Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: The Call of the Cross: Four College Sermons, The Call of the Cross: 4 College Sermons
Description: Four sermons by George Herron, with an introduction by President George Augustus Gates.
Date Created: 1892
PID: grinnell:1751

Title: The First Meeting
Description: This piece aims to juxtapose Iowa’s progressive aims with its oppressive past. The centerpiece of this block is a poster publicizing an anti-slavery meeting which took place in Iowa. While anti-slavery meetings such as this one were necessary in the push towards abolition, the artist urges Iowans to explore their state’s relationship to slavery on a deeper level. The artist has incorporated chain-like strands of metal to symbolize the bondage of enslaved peoples, and depictions of genetic material captures the implications of slavery for actual living organisms. While Grinnellians may sometimes put their town on a pedestal for its historic abolitionist position and refusal to join the Confederate Army, this block calls attention to the pain and suffering that still occurred in this state at the hands of racism and white supremacy.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25483

Title: The Journey
Description: This block was created around the theme of the journey. We all go through different journeys in our lives, some longer and more challenging than others, but every journey is important and demands courage and strength. This block honors those who were challenged by a specific journey unique to American history and relevant, even more specifically, to the state of Iowa; the story of the Underground Railroad. This block is comprised of a map of the Underground Railroad in the South, framed by a smattering of screws, pill capsules, buttons, stars, and other found objects. It also includes a photograph of the Lewelling House, a popular anti-slavery meeting house and renown safe stop on the Underground Railroad in an area of the Midwest particularly unfriendly to slaves and freed blacks during the years before the Civil War. Although the area of the South portrayed in the map is, of course, miles from the Lewelling House, the experience of black people in America is part of our entire country’s history, not just the areas most ravaged by institutional slavery and injustice. Although we often associate slavery with the American South, we must not forget that slavery was a national issue which demanded the attention of every city, small town, and individual, much like issues of racism still demand every person’s attention, no matter their race, today. The strewn nails and capsules surrounding the images in this block allude to journeys of different kinds, both physical and emotional. As our eyes follow the paths drawn by these loose objects we may be reminded of journeys we have taken in our own lives.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25495

Title: The U.S., Russia, and Bridging the East-West Divide, United States, Russia and Bridging the East-West Divide.
Description: Ian Kelly, Diplomat in Residence for the Midwest, give a talk on the the U.S. Russia Divide in 2014.
Date Created: 2014
PID: grinnell:23076

Title: Unknown to Unknown, January (?), 1859
Description: The letter seems to be a fragment. The first paragraph discusses the where the writer lives, and details of the surrounding area. The second paragraph discusses information concerning state government and jurisdiction districts. Also mentioned is the State University [later University of Iowa].
Date Created: 1859
PID: grinnell:12340

Title: Windows
Description: This block depicts four distinct scenes, yet they are part of the same world. Placid scenes of rural and urban Iowa, set side by side alongside depictions of white Iowans in the process of buying and selling African people. This goal of this block is to challenge the illusion of innocence that has colored our reality of slave auctions and all other dehumanizing and violent aspects of the slave trade. The juxtaposed images of Iowan rural life and images of the Iowan slave trade evokes tension and conflict under an apparent calm. In what ways are we complicit in this calm, and in what ways can we challenge it?
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25496

Title: “Fear God, Tell the Truth, and Make Money”
Description: “Fear God, tell the truth and make money” was the motto of The Iowa Bystander, a newspaper established by ten black businessmen in Des Moines, Iowa in 1894. The Iowa Bystander targeted a black audience and employed black writers, unlike most Iowa newspapers at the time who would not hire black journalists. The Bystander outspokenly criticized American society, taking on several different issues such as the Ku Klux Klan, racist advertising practices, and unequal treatment of blacks in the American armed forces. Most black newspapers in the United States at this time had an average lifespan of about nine years, but the Bystander lasted more than eighty years due to its strong leadership under publishers like John Lay Thompson and J.B. Morris, making it one of the most successful black newspapers in the country. This block incorporates different clippings from the Iowa Bystander. The clippings include several ads for employment opportunities, an advertisement for a colored cafe, and an article about the Iowa State Federation Colored Women’s Club. The paper paid tribute to various women in the ranks of the club, and included beautiful portraits of many of the women involved. Through their journalism, the Bystander was able to empower and connect blacks across America. Newspapers like the Bystander played a critical role in uniting black communities and creating a space for them in white America.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25509