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Former Cedar Rapids superintendent talks race in new book ‘From Dubuque to Selma and Beyond’
Laura Farmer
Mar. 31, 2024 6:15 am, Updated: Apr. 1, 2024 4:31 pm
Former Cedar Rapids superintendent Dave Markward may be retired from teaching, but he’s still educating the public.
His latest book “From Dubuque to Selma and Beyond: My Journey to Understand Racism in America” compiles six years of research and personal interviews regarding race in America.
The result is part personal memoir, part case study, part history book.
Markward grew up in Dubuque and “at that time, there were very few people of color living in Dubuque,” he said in a recent interview. After graduating from Dubuque Senior, Markward went to Augustana College and his worldview expanded.
“One of my messages (in this book) is the opportunity to interact with people who come from different backgrounds — we should embrace those. We had very few of those in Dubuque. Most of us looked alike.”
Markward hopes that by reading the book others can take a closer look at their own lives and see steps they can take to make life better for all.
“The reason that I use myself (as a subject) is I wanted to show vulnerability. Not a person who has all the answers. A person who has made some mistakes but wants to do better.”
How it all started
A little over six years ago, Markward and his partner traveled to Selma, Alabama, to participate in a re-enactment of the crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The bridge, now a National Historic Landmark, was the site of the brutal beatings of civil rights marchers during the first march for voting rights in 1965.
“It was a very emotional experience,” said Markward, who estimated there were about 20,000 people there for the event.
“What was so uplifting was seeing that many people there interested still in voting rights, coming together from all parts of the country and to peacefully walk … across the bridge,” he said.
When he came home, Markward talked to his brothers and one of them said he should write something about his experience.
Markward started reading and researching and eventually wrote a series of essays about racism in America that he posted to Facebook.
He then revised and expanded those essays into a nine-chapter book: “From Dubuque to Selma and Beyond: My Journey to Understand Racism in America.”
The result blends his individual growth with historical events and interviews, creating a book that takes a close, personal look at America’s racial divides.
“About six years of reading and studying and interviewing people that were so nice and willing to respond to my prompts and learn more about their life and what it’s like to be a Black person and live in America on an everyday basis.
“These are not headline people: they’re everyday people that get up and go to work and raise families and have their stories to tell,” he said.
Asking Questions
Each chapter in Markward’s book opens with a different thought-provoking question.
“To me, as a teacher and as a student, learning starts with questions. From the time we’re little kids on we want to know why and what and where and how and those things,” Markward said.
“I’m asking the question of myself but I want other people to ask those questions as well. And question what I’ve written,” he said.
For example, the first chapter begins: “Have you ever been profiled?”
When Markward posed that question to the people he interviewed, he received a common response.
“One person said, ‘Let me go through the Rolodex and pull out just a couple for you.’
“It’s a very common experience that as white folks — at least from my perspective, and I speak for myself. There’s going to be people that look at this differently I don’t get up each day and say ‘What’s going to happen to me because I‘m white?’ And that’s a distinct difference from many people,” he said.
By structuring the book around different questions, Markward hopes to get readers thinking about the topic before they start reading the chapter.
Then they will learn more about the topic — and themselves — as they read.
“I didn’t write for people to say — ‘Oh I agree with all that stuff.’ I wrote it so people could ask themselves those questions and then honestly answer them,” Markward said.
“And I think their answers will be different when they finish a chapter than when they started,” he said.
Call to action
When Markward returned home after that trip to Selma, he wanted to do something to help in the fight for racial equality.
“At first that was that (first) little essay. And then that grew into a book. And now my work is trying to spread the word of that book so others can maybe experience the same sort of self-examination that may lead them to take action in their own way,” Markward said.
He’s also taking action with his book sales. Profits from the sale of “From Dubuque to Selma and Beyond” will go to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the school districts where Markward worked and the colleges and universities he attended.