Category: Education

January 2026 Green Drinks-Environmental Science Fair Projects

1/2/2026

January Green Drinks - Environmental Science Fair Projects
Thursday, January 8th at 5:00 pm via Zoom

Environmental Forum

During the last Davenport North High School Environmental Science Fair, students from the Environment Club presented their projects. Science teacher Laura McCreery will share with us what her students presented at the event.

R.S.V.P. for a link to join the meeting by using the QR code in the flyer or register online.

Susan Leuthauser (she/her)

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PACG Book Club - "The Coddling of the American Mind", November 2025

10/22/2025

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The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
Monday, November 17th at 5:15 pm

Edwards Congregational UCC
3420 Jersey Ridge Rd
Davenport, IA (map)

PACG Book Club

I think anyone organizing around progressive issues would greatly benefit from reading this book. You will also realize that at least some of the conservative complaints about what is happening on college campuses (e.g., cancel culture) are valid. And if we are trying to get younger people involved, those under the age of 30, we need to understand the different way they were raised which affects their behavior as adults. Even if you can't come to this discussion, I encourage you to read the book.

Contact me for the link if you want to come via Zoom.

Alta Price (she/her)

Read more about the book at Goodreads:

"Something is going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and afraid to speak honestly. How did this happen?"

"First Amendment expert Greg Lukianoff and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt show how the new problems on campus have their origins in three terrible ideas that have become increasingly woven into American childhood and what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths are incompatible with basic psychological principles, as well as ancient wisdom from many cultures. They interfere with healthy development. Anyone who embraces these untruths—and the resulting culture of safetyism—is less likely to become an autonomous adult able to navigate the bumpy road of life."

"Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected to produce these untruths. They situate the conflicts on campus in the context of America’s rapidly rising political polarization, including a rise in hate crimes and off-campus provocation. They explore changes in childhood including the rise of fearful parenting, the decline of unsupervised play, and the new world of social media that has engulfed teenagers in the last decade."

"This is a book for anyone who is confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children, or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and cooperate across party lines."

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Iowa Is Better Than This! Webinar - Community Event

1/30/2022

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"Iowa is Better Than This! Lamenting Iowa's Discriminatory Legislation" - A Free Hybrid Webinar
Wednesday, February 16th at 5:00 pm

In Person and Via Zoom

One Human Family and Numerous Organizations

Over the past year, the Iowa Legislature has considered and/or passed legislation that does not represent "Iowa Nice" values. We need to be heard as we Lament these actions!

Join us in this statewide Lamentation so our legislators know that these policies are not acceptable in a state that cares for all people. Let your voice be heard! We have options for online participation (via Zoom) and in-person sites across the state.

We lament the past to serve as a warning for the future!

For more information, go to OneHumanFamilyQCA.org. Read their statement, attached below.

Online Zoom Registration here.

In-Person Registration here.

Allison Ambrose

iowa_is_better_than_this_statement_2022.pdf
File Size:	219 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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African Americans in Davenport Struggled to Educate Their Children

2/16/2020

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Did You Know About the Struggles of African Americans in Davenport to Educate Their Children?

Donate to Preserve Local Cultural and Ethnic History

As part of PACG's on-going fu ndraiser to pay for a large kiosk display at the MLK Interpretive Center, the struggle African Americans had to educate their children is the subject of this week's blog post about local cultural and ethnic history.

Local historian Craig Klein has gathered the following information from research in eastern Iowa.

The Colored School Controversy
As in other midwestern states, the struggle for equality in Iowa schools began long before the Civil War. Believing that blacks were inferior to whites, members of Iowa’s First Territorial Assembly enacted a general school law in January l839 that barred black children from attending school with their white peers. As a result, when Iowa gained admission to the Union in 1846, school laws already in place prevented black children from attending the “common schools” established in each county. Paralleling other “whites only” practices sanctioned by Iowa’s early constitution, this arrangement was supported by most Iowans in the late 1840s and 1850s. However, increasingly in the 1840s and 1850s, Iowans sympathetic to the plight of blacks began to question the wisdom and morality of this school law provision. Prompted by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, the debate over equality in Iowa schools became heated in the 1850s. At the constitutional convention of 1857 in Iowa City, delegates favoring open enrollment for all school children met fierce opposition from die-hard opponents of equality. But when it became obvious that neither side would prevail, the convention approved compromise language that mandated the creation of separate, state-supported schools for black children. In the school law of 1858, the state legislature enacted this provision into law.[1]

The debate over equality in Iowa schools also resonated at the local level. Charting the course of the debate over this issue in Davenport, Iowa, from 1858 to early 1860, the following news articles and minutes of Board of Education meetings shed light on the controversy that arose over the city’s early “Colored School.” Though Davenport only had a handful of school-aged black children in 1858, their presence became a contentious issue. Formed in May 1858, the city’s first Board of Education apparently sought to resolve the issue by quietly allowing several black children to attend School No. 3 at the southeast corner of Sixth and Warren streets. But in a disparaging June 26, 1858, editorial, the Daily Morning News, a local newspaper with decidedly Democratic and southern sympathies, called on concerned citizens to have these children expelled-a summons that soon bore results. On September 15, 1858, thirty-eight Davenport residents signed a petition asking the Board of Education to expel “some four or five Negroes” then attending the Stone School House at the corner of Seventh and Perry streets. Because the school law of 1858 only allowed for mixed schooling if there was unanimous consent for it in the community, the Board of Education had no choice but to comply: on September 18, 1858, it ordered the expulsion of these children from the city school system.

While most citizens acknowledged that the Board had no legal recourse, the decision to remove the children disturbed many Davenporters. Seeking a solution to the crisis, they heatedly debated the issue amongst themselves, arriving shortly thereafter at a consensus to establish a separate school for black children outside the school system. Some residents favored this solution for pragmatic reasons as well: they feared opponents of tax-supported “free schools” would use the controversy to destroy the city school system. Apparently responding to public sentiment, the Board of Education moved on November 8,1858, to establish a separate school for black children in a room in the newly-constructed Baptist Church at the corner of Perry and Fourth streets. But it is unclear if this school ever opened. After failing to establish another separate school in April 1859 (whether it was in the Baptist Church or another location is unclear), the Board moved in late 1859 to establish a “Colored” school in a room in School No. 3 at the corner of Warren and Sixth streets. Opening in early December, this venture soon failed “for want of pupils.” Before mandating an open school system in the early 1860s, the Board reportedly tried one last time in l860 to establish a separate school for black school children in the Baptist Church. But this experiment was short-lived as well.

[1] Amie Cooper, “A Stony Road-Black Education in Iowa, 1838-1860,” Annals of Iowa 48(1986), 113-34

Source: Davenport’s Pioneer African American Community: A Sourcebook, p. 19

Citizen petition protesting the presence of black children in Davenport public schools. (Davenport Daily Gazette on Sept. 22, 1858) On September 15, 1858, thirty-eight Davenport citizens signed a petition protesting the presence of black children in city schools. Presented to the Davenport Board of Education, this petition appeared in the Davenport Daily Gazette on Sept. 22, 1858, along with copy of the Board’s September 18, 1858 decision to expel several black children from school. (The 1868 date on the petition is in error.)

The Stone School House - The school from which several black children were expelled in late September 1858. Bowing to demands from thirty-eight citizens, the Davenport School Board expelled several black students in late September 1858 who had been attending School No. 2, also known as the Stone School House, at the corner of Seventh and Perry Streets. Newly built in 1854, the Stone School House was later renamed Adams School.

The Baptist Church - The site of Davenport’s first colored school. Seeking to keep the controversy over racially mixed education out of the city school system, Davenport school officials moved to establish a separate school for black children in November 1858 in the newly-built Baptist Church at the southwest corner of Perry and Fourth Streets. However, it is unclear if this school opened at this time. After school officials failed to establish separate instruction for black children in School No. 3 (later known as Old Jefferson) in December 1859, black children were reportedly again placed in a segregated classroom in the Baptist Church. Probably operating in 1860, this school soon failed as well.

The Brick School House - The site of a segregated classroom for black children in late 1859. After Davenport’s first separate school for black children in the Baptist Church closed in the spring of 1859, school officials organized another "colored school" in the Brick School House at the southeast the corner of Sixth and Warren Streets. (Also known as School No. 3, the building was later renamed Jefferson School.) Though a woman named Mrs. M.A. Fearing was hired to teach this school for $20 per month, it soon closed because of low attendance.

You can help preserve this history like this by making a donation to purchase a display screen for the Martin Luther King Interactive Center.

For other Blogs in support of this project, see also:

Did You Know About African American Women's Clubs in Davenport During the Progressive Era?

Did You Know That Frederick Douglass Visited Davenport in April of 1866?

Did You Know That Aeronaut Professor John Byrd Piloted His Balloon from Davenport in August of 1883?

Donate to Preserve Local Cultural and Ethnic History

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PACG History - Education Forum has an impact! After Action Report

9/28/2013

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"Go Public, a Day in the Life of an American School District" showing After Action Report
September 28, 2013

PACG Education Forum

On Saturday September 28th more than 75 local educators and concerned citizens gathered at Davenport’s Unitarian Universalist church for a screening of the new educational documentary “Go Public, a Day in the Life of an American School District.”

Following the screening a panel of area education experts discussed with the audience the value of the film and its relevance to the Quad Cities. There was unanimous agreement that the film did a wonderful job of bringing to the public a true slice of life in an urban public school district and in doing so is a valuable tool to help combat the distortions and half-truths that have been widely used to attack public education.

We wish to express a very special thank you to the film makers Dawn and Jim O’Keefe for their brilliant film and for traveling across half a continent to show it to us. The film makers have posted a brief video of the discussion on the web here.

Panelist included Ralph Johansen (President of the Davenport School board), Tom Carpenter, (Director of the St. Ambrose School of Education), Mike Schroeder, (Professor of Education at Augustana College), Art Tate, (Superintendent of the Davenport Schools), Toby Paone, ( Uniserve Unite Director for the Iowa State Education Association), Cindy Winckler (retired educator and Iowa representative), Rebecca Menard, ( Teacher in the Davenport Schools and President of the Davenport Education Association), Dawn O’Keefe, ( Freelance writer, investigative reporter and producer), and Bill Sherwood (Retired educator, current Davenport School Board member, and member of the board of PACG).

Co-sponsors of the evening were: Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG), St. Ambrose School of Education and The Iowa State Education ISEA

Bill Sherwood

Bill Gluba

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January 2026 Green Drinks-Environmental Science Fair Projects

January Green Drinks - Environmental Science Fair Projects
Thursday, January 8th at 5:00 pm via Zoom

Environmental Forum

PACG Book Club - "The Coddling of the American Mind", November 2025

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
Monday, November 17th at 5:15 pm

Edwards Congregational UCC
3420 Jersey Ridge Rd
Davenport, IA (map)

PACG Book Club

Iowa Is Better Than This! Webinar - Community Event

"Iowa is Better Than This! Lamenting Iowa's Discriminatory Legislation" - A Free Hybrid Webinar
Wednesday, February 16th at 5:00 pm

African Americans in Davenport Struggled to Educate Their Children

Did You Know About the Struggles of African Americans in Davenport to Educate Their Children?

PACG History - Education Forum has an impact! After Action Report

"Go Public, a Day in the Life of an American School District" showing After Action Report
September 28, 2013

Archives

Categories

January 2026 Green Drinks-Environmental Science Fair Projects

January Green Drinks - Environmental Science Fair ProjectsThursday, January 8th at 5:00 pm via ZoomEnvironmental Forum

PACG Book Club - "The Coddling of the American Mind", November 2025

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Jonathan Haidt and Greg LukianoffMonday, November 17th at 5:15 pmEdwards Congregational UCC3420 Jersey Ridge RdDavenport, IA (map)PACG Book Club

Iowa Is Better Than This! Webinar - Community Event

"Iowa is Better Than This! Lamenting Iowa's Discriminatory Legislation" - A Free Hybrid WebinarWednesday, February 16th at 5:00 pm

African Americans in Davenport Struggled to Educate Their Children

Did You Know About the Struggles of African Americans in Davenport to Educate Their Children?

PACG History - Education Forum has an impact! After Action Report

"Go Public, a Day in the Life of an American School District" showing After Action ReportSeptember 28, 2013

Archives

Categories

January Green Drinks - Environmental Science Fair Projects
Thursday, January 8th at 5:00 pm via Zoom

Environmental Forum

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff
Monday, November 17th at 5:15 pm

Edwards Congregational UCC
3420 Jersey Ridge Rd
Davenport, IA (map)

PACG Book Club

"Iowa is Better Than This! Lamenting Iowa's Discriminatory Legislation" - A Free Hybrid Webinar
Wednesday, February 16th at 5:00 pm

"Go Public, a Day in the Life of an American School District" showing After Action Report
September 28, 2013