IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
JEAN SHOOTS (1926- )
PAPERS, 1990-1998
1 linear inch and
audiovisual material
|
ACQUISITION: |
The
papers (donor no. 422) were
donated by Jean Shoots in 1997
and succeeding years. |
|
ACCESS: |
The
papers are open for research. |
|
AUDIOVISUAL: |
Two videocassettes shelved in the videocassette collection (V126 and V192). |
|
COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright of all literary material created by the donor has been retained by the donor and her heirs. |
|
PROCESSED
BY: |
Kristen Rassbach, 1997; Kate Jones, 1998. |
|
REVISED: |
Kathryn Neal, August 1998. [ShootsJean.doc] |
Biography
Jean McDonald Shoots, an African-American
nurse, volunteer, writer, and performer, was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on
April 12, 1926, to George Edward and Christina Robinson McDonald. During the Depression, in the early 1930s,
Jean McDonald and her family were sent to live in a tented community in
Dennison, Iowa, where men were constructing buildings for the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC). As a girl,
Jean McDonald and her sisters performed as a song-and-dance group. They were featured in their own
fifteen-minute radio show in Marshalltown, Iowa. Jean McDonald went on to marry and became known as Jean
Shoots. She had one son.
Jean Shoots received her practical nursing degree
from a school for special surgery in New York City after receiving her general
equivalency diploma (GED). She later
earned a degree in registered nursing from Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn,
New York. Shoots spent most of her
career as a registered nurse in Iowa City, Iowa, including several years at the
Veterans' Hospital and at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
After her retirement from nursing,
Shoots volunteered her time with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)
and the Youth and Elderly in Service program (YES) in Iowa City, Iowa. She also served on the Citizen’s Advisory
Committee of the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She received an award from Governor Terry
Branstad at the Governor's Annual Volunteer Recognition Ceremony in 1997. In 1998, she was the keynote speaker at a
University of Iowa Community Convocation in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Human Rights Week. Shoots also became
active in the creative arts in Iowa City:
she wrote short stories, acted in the Seniors Standing Room Only (SSRO)
group, and performed in the Iowa City public-access television shows, “Open
Channel” and “Letters to My Sister.”
Scope and Content Note
The Jean Shoots papers date from 1990 to 1998 and measure 1 linear inch. The papers also include some undated
material. The collection consists primarily of photocopied items, yet also includes
audiovisual material. Two
videocassettes comprise the collection:
the first features Shoots reading two of her stories, “Dogs and Cats”
and “Cousins,” on the Iowa City public cable-access program, “Open Channel,”
and the second is Shoots’s presentation of an excerpt from her public-access
cable television show “Letters to My Sister.”
A copy of the introduction of Shoots at this program, which was a Black
History Month event at the Iowa City Johnson County Senior Center, is also
included in the collection. The papers
also contain newspaper clippings, a biographical sketch about Shoots, a
photograph of Shoots accepting the Governor’s volunteer award from Iowa
Governor Terry Branstad, and the award itself.
Other contents include five of Shoots’s short stories, correspondence,
and an introduction of Shoots, who introduced University of Iowa law professor
Adrien Wing at a 1997 lecture.
Related collections
Janie
B. Yates papers
Box 1
Biographical sketch, undated
Poster: “In Our Midst,” Black History Month event featuring Kathryn Neal, Iowa Women’s Archives, Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center, 1998
Correspondence, 1994-1997
Governor’s Volunteer Award and photograph, 1997
Introduction of Shoots
Adrien Wing lecture, 1997
“Letters to My Sister: A Special Reading Honoring the Civil
Rights
Struggle and For My People, A Poem by Margaret
Walker,
Black History Month event featuring Jean Shoots,
Iowa
City/Johnson County Senior Center, 1998
Letters to the editor, 1995 and undated
University of Iowa Martin Luther King, Jr. Human
Rights Week
Community
Convocation Program, 1998
Newspaper clippings, 1990-1998 and undated
“Nostalgia,” WMT Radio reading, undated
Senior Standing Room Only performance schedule, 1995
Short Stories
“The Family,” 1992
“The Words,” 1994
“Baby Dear’s Party,” 1996
“Sometime--Just Once You Take a Stand,” 1997
“The Graduation,” 1997
“Shopping,” 1998
Videocassettes
“Open Channel,” 1996 (VHS 13 minutes) [shelved in
videocassette collection: V126]
A reading from “Letters to My Sister,” 1998 (VHS 25
minutes)
[shelved in videocassette collection: V192]
Photograph:
Jean Shoots at African-American Read-In, South
East Junior High School, Iowa City, Iowa, 1998