An Early History of African-Americans in Waterloo, Iowa: 1900-1920*

The African-American experience in Waterloo, Iowa is in many ways typical of other African-Americans who migrated to industrialized urban areas in the North during the early 1900s. These new arrivals faced many of the same situations and conditions faced by those African-Americans who migrated to cities such as Chicago, Detroit, or New York. Yet, the African-American migrants to Waterloo were able to avoid much of the violence and hatred experienced by other African-Americans living in urban ghettoes because of their relatively small numbers, the ethnic diversity of the existing working class in Waterloo, and their ability to develop "stable and progressive institutions" that fostered cohesiveness and reinforced cultural distinctiveness (Neymeyer 1970). 

* This essay has borrowed heavily from the research and unpublished essay of Robert Neymeyer (1970), with the author's permission.