African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa

Edgar Hicks, a nationally-known expert on current
issues in African American agriculture, will discuss the 
state of the black farmer in America in light of the legacy 
of George Washington Carver in his lecture, "The Black Farmer 
Today." 

Hicks is a grain consultant and risk management 
consultant for the Rural Development Commission (RDC) in the 
State of Nebraska.  The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. 
January 15 at the Council Bluffs Public Library. The event is 
free and open to the public.

This program is a part of the African American Historical 
Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa's year-long project, 
"Iowa Roots, Global Impact: The Life and Legacy of George 
Washington Carver."  This project includes a major exhibition 
at the museum, traveling exhibits, programs and more. This 
project is supported by the Roy J. Carver Charitable
Trust; the State Historical Society, Inc.; Humanities 
Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities; General 
Mills; Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area; Pioneer; 
among others.

For more information visit the museum's web site or call 
1-877-526-1863.

Statistics about Barack Obama's Victory in Iowa

From Barack Obama.com

Last night, Barack Obama made history in Iowa with a dramatic and decisive victory. He won by bringing an unprecedented number of voters into the process, including thousands of Republicans and Independents who registered as Democrats in order to support Obama.

The entrance polls show just how dominating Obama’s win was and dispel some myths about his candidacy:

Obama beat Clinton among women 35% to 30%

Obama beat Edwards among voters in union households 30%-24%

Obama beat Clinton and Edwards among voters of almost every income level (Obama and Clinton tied among voters who make $15-30,000)

As many voters age 17-29 as voters 65 and older participated last night -- in previous years senior participation has been 5-times greater than younger voters.

Obama beat Edwards and Clinton among voters who want change (51%-20%-19%)

Despite countless attacks and hundreds of thousands of dollars in negative mail, TV, and radio, Obama beat Clinton and Edwards (34%-30%-27%) among voters who say health care is the most important issue

Obama won among those who said the economy was the most important issue (36%-26%-26%)

Obama won over Clinton and Edwards (35%-26%-17%) among those who said Iraq was the most important issue

Won across the ideological spectrum – winning among liberals, moderates and conservatives

Won among high income and lower income voters among voters with household income below $50,000 (34%-32%-19%) and among those over $50,000 (41%-19%-28%)

Also won among the 82% of voters who said Pakistan was “very or somewhat important”

The voters looked at Barack Obama and found he was someone that they could support. Thank you, Iowa.

What Was Your Iowa Caucus Experience Like?

From Dana Boone:

Wow. I participated in the Iowa Caucuses last night for the first time. It was chaotic, exciting, tense -- and productive! The majority of my neighbors and I supported Democratic winner, Sen. Barack Obama. In the end, my good friend Dawn Campbell and I left Hiatt Middle School cheering and hi-fiving each other.

What was your caucus experience like? BrownIowa.com wants to hear from you... Post some comments!

Check Out the Iowa Voices

Check out the Iowa Voices in this BlackAmericaWeb.com story:

Blacks in Iowa, Fueled by Hope, Help Carry Obama to Victory - One Small Precinct at a Time

Date: Friday, January 04, 2008
By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaweb.com

“I don’t think the planners anticipated the numbers that turned out to caucus,” Abraham Funchess told BlackAmericaWeb.com. Thursday was the first time the South Carolina native—turned Iowa resident had participated in the caucus...

“Barack crossed racial lines. He won our precinct, he’s leading Iowa,” said Charles Spencer, who participated in the caucus for the first time...

“This says a lot about Obama, and it says a lot to America,” Spencer told BlackAmericaWeb.com. That precinct had a racial mix among the 377 who participated, Spencer said. About 15 of the participants were black.

At the predominately black precinct at Hiatt Middle School on the east side of Des Moines, Obama picked up six of the eight delegates, and Clinton received two, with 243 people participating, according to Dana Boone, who served as secretary for the precinct count.

“It was tense, but exciting,” Boone told BlackAmericaWeb.com shortly after the counting had concluded for the evening. Because of the large turnout, the crowd had to move from a small cafeteria to a larger space at the school, she said. “Blacks really showed up for Obama.”

Read the ENTIRE story at Blackamericaweb.com.

Barack's Iowa Victory Speech

BARACK OBAMA THE WINNER OF THE IOWA CAUCUS

94% Precincts reporting:

Barack Obama - 38%

A record 234,000 people participated in the Democratic Party Iowa Caucus.

I'm speechless at that number, and I thank everyone who came to be counted.

*********************************************************

Obama's Victory Speech:

"They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided; too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

But on this January night – at this defining moment in history – you have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do; what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days; what America can do in this New Year. In schools and churches; small towns and big cities; you came together as Democrats, Republicans and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that’s consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that’s been all about division and make it about addition – to build a coalition for change that stretches through Red States and Blue States. Because that’s how we’ll win in November, and that’s how we’ll finally meet the challenges we face.

The time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don’t own this government, we do; and we’re here to take it back.

The time has come for a President who’ll be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who’ll listen to you even when we disagree; who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know. And New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that President for America."

The speech, as prepared for deliver, appears in full after the jump.

They said this day would never come.

They said our sights were set too high.

They said this country was too divided; too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

But on this January night – at this defining moment in history – you have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do; what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days; what America can do in this New Year. In schools and churches; small towns and big cities; you came together as Democrats, Republicans and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that’s consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that’s been all about division and make it about addition – to build a coalition for change that stretches through Red States and Blue States. Because that’s how we’ll win in November, and that’s how we’ll finally meet the challenges we face.

The time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don’t own this government, we do; and we’re here to take it back.

The time has come for a President who’ll be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who’ll listen to you even when we disagree; who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know. And New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that President for America.

I’ll be a President who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American the same way I expanded health care in Illinois – by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done

I’ll be a President who ends the tax breaks for corporations who ship our jobs overseas and puts a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.

I’ll be a President who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.

And I’ll be a President who brings our troops home from Iraq; restores our moral standing; and understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes, but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.

Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa. And I’d like to take a minute to thank the organizers and precinct captains; the volunteers and staff who made this all possible.

I know you didn’t do this just for me. You did this because you believed deeply in the most American of ideas – that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I’ll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa – organizing, and working, and fighting to make people’s lives just a little bit better.

I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay, and a lot of sacrifice. There are days of disappointment, but sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this – a night that, years from now, when we’ve made the changes we believe in; when more families can afford to see a doctor; when our children inherit a planet that’s a little cleaner and safer; when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united; you’ll be able look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.

This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for far too long – when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who’d never participated in politics a reason to stand up and do so.

This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up.

Years from now, you’ll look back and say that this was the moment – this was the place – where America remembered what it means to hope.

For many months, we’ve been teased and even derided for talking about hope.

But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It’s not sitting on the sidelines or shrinking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and work for it, and fight for it.

Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford health care for a sister who’s ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.

Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn’t been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for a safe return.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an Empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young men and women to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom’s cause.

Hope is what led me here today – with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. It is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand – that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in tthis election, we are ready to believe again.

Blacks Appear Poised to Influence Iowa Caucuses

By Dana Boone

Many African-Americans across Iowa said determination and excitement is driving them to participate in tonight's Iowa Caucuses for the first time.

"Black people -- this is our opportunity to step up to the plate," said Melvin Hawkins, a 45-year-old DJ from Davenport and a first time caucus-goer.

Blacks in Des Moines, Waterloo and Davenport said they felt compelled to learn about a political process that is still somewhat mysterious to them -- and participate tonight -- because they feel strongly about presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"Everybody is pretty much pumped on the idea that we could possibly get a president like Obama," said Kenneth Foster, 35, a student mentor at Creative Visions in Des Moines and first-time caucus-goer.

Many black Iowans said the nation is in trouble with its lackluster economy, the war in Iraq, a bleak employment outlook and racial disparities in schools and prisons. It's more important than ever, they said, for blacks to help decide who will become president. And, the nation is watching.

"Things are bad right now, and I know if someone doesn't come in a make a difference right away, we're going to be in another sort of depression (era)," Foster said.

Many blacks said they have noticed an unusual increase this year in discussions among their friends and families about the problems affecting the country, the presidential candidates and how to caucus.

Hawkins, who expressed dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and the way the country is being managed, said Obama has the "wow" factor.

"It seems like you've got more of a voice because he's on the same page as you, in the same age range as you," Hawkins said. "He's a person who will give the us a fresh start."

READ the entire story at Iowa Independent.