Hayward Oubre (pictured above, left), whose works are the subject of a current exhibition at the UI Stanley Museum of Art, and his wife, Juanita, came from Dillard University in New Orleans to earn their MFAs at the University of Iowa. They then taught at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
The Oubres are only one example of the HBCU/UI pipeline in the mid-20th century. This panel discussion invites alumni from creative fields and scholars to discuss Iowa’s impact on the education and professional lives of Black alumni, and the education of Black artists in general. Dr. Ashley Howard, UI Assistant Professor of African American Studies, will moderate the conversation.
Panelists include:
Dr. Danille Taylor, Director, Clark Atlanta University Art Museum. Dr. Taylor become the director of Clark Atlanta University Art Museum in 2023 after serving as the interim director and Dean of the School of Arts & Science at Clark Atlanta University. Under her leadership, the museum hosted one of its most successful exhibitions, Our Friend Jean, the Early Works of Jean Michele Basquiat. It also began to digitize its permanent collection for the HBCU History and Cultural Access Consortium and received an IMLS grant to expand the museum’s staff. Dr. Taylor is the editor of Conversations with Toni Morrison and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to African American Women’s Writing. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for The Order of New Arts, a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia.
Dr. Raul Ferrera-Balanquet, Co-executive director, Howard University Gallery of Art. Dr. Ferrera-Balanquet is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, curator, Fullbright scholar, and University of Iowa alumnus. He was born in Havana, Cuba and came to the United States in 1980 via the Mariel Boatlift. He has organized exhibitions across the country, including Genesis: The African American Experience in Art. The Ronald W. and Patricia Turner African American Collection at Howard University Gallery of Art and Africana Hemispheric Performance, Actions, Socially Public Participations, Rituals, and Ceremonies at the Center for Afrofuturist Studies in Iowa City. He wrote Aestesis Decolonial Transmoderna Latinx_MX (2019) and edited Andar Erotico Decolonial (2015). Dr. Ferrera-Balanquet’s artwork has been exhibited across the United States and internationally.
Dr. Richard Breaux, Associate Professor of Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse. Dr. Breaux earned his doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Iowa. He specializes in African American History, and teaches a variety of courses such as Race, Gender, & Sport; 20th Century Civil Rights Movement; and History of Black Music. His recent publications include "Mahjari Musicians: The Recorded Sounds of Arab Americans in the Early Twentieth Century, 1912-1936," in Mariam F. Alkazemi and Claudia E. Youakim, Arab Worlds Beyond the Middle East and North Africa; “Songs of Nostalgia in New York City’s Long-Lost ‘Little Syria” in Syria Untold; and “The Greater Syrian Diaspora at 78 RPM" series in Arab America. Additionally, he contributed the chapter “Tireless Partners and Skilled Competitors: Seeing UI’s Black Male Athletes, 1934-1960” to Invisible Hawkeyes: Iowa, Integration & the Long Civil Rights Movement, edited by Michael D. and Lena M. Hill.
Dr. Ashley Howard earned a PhD in History from the University of Illinois. She joined the University of Iowa faculty in fall 2019, coming from Loyola University, New Orleans. Her research interests include African Americans in the Midwest; the intersection between race, class, and gender; and the global history of racial violence. Her book, Midwest Unrest: 1960s Urban Rebellions and the Black Freedom Movement, on UNC Press’s Justice, Power, and Politics imprint, analyzes the uprisings grounded in the way race, class, gender, and region played critical and overlapping roles in defining resistance to racialized oppression.