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Biography

Victor Anderson was the only African American in his school in Oklahoma. His parents divorced when he was young, he was raised by his mother until her death when he was fifteen.  While that left him feeling homeless, his mother had instilled in him the idea of purpose and service. After his service in the Army as a technical engineer, he choose Loras College in Dubuque for his undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice.  He also earned a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. As a Juvenile Probation Officer, he chooses to work toward creating positive role models for young African Americans, especially boys. He is dedicated to bettering the lives of the young people he meets. As the founder of Dare To Be King-Group Mentoring Program. This is not his first project; he started as award winning Juvenile Drug Court Program in Oklahoma which is still in operation. He is a husband and father whose work with juveniles illustrates that Community Service and Giving Back are not just platitudes for Mr. Anderson.

Transcript

Date of Interview 6 March 2009

Victor Anderson Jr.: My name is Victor Anderson, Jr.

Josh: Where were you born and raised?

Victor Anderson: I was born and raised in McAlister, Oklahoma. And then when I was a teenager I moved to Eufaula, Oklahoma, Pryor, Oklahoma, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Haileyville, Oklahoma.

Josh: What brought you to Dubuque?

Victor Anderson: I came to Dubuque to get my education up at Loras College.

Josh: Where did you go to school from elementary up?
Victor Anderson: When I was in elementary through junior high, through high school, I attended the same high school, or excuse me, the same school, which was Haileyville. It was an all white school. I was the only African American in the entire school. I graduated with twenty-eight people in my graduating class my senior year. I attended Loras College; I have an undergrad degree in Criminal Justice. And I attended The University of Phoenix, Tulsa Campus and I have a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

Josh: How long have you lived in Iowa?

Victor Anderson: I moved to Iowa and I stayed here for about four years. Then I moved back to Oklahoma and then I recently moved back to Iowa in 2007. So, for about six years.

Josh: Do you have family in Dubuque?

Victor Anderson: Yes. I have a wife, Laura, and my daughter, Sydney.

Josh: What is your impression of Iowa?

Victor Anderson: My impression of Iowa. I like Iowa. It’s a small town atmosphere all over the state for the most part. Pretty low crime rate. Most people are pretty friendly. They try to help you. The people that I work with, I like working with, because they want, you know, they try to help you succeed. There’s not a lot of back stabbing and trying to bring you down. So, all and all once you get used to the smell of the pigs and the farms and stuff, it’s not that bad. It’s a pretty nice place to live.

Josh: What did you do for entertainment when you were young?

Victor Anderson: When I was young- entertainment. I just kind of hung out with my family and friends; I played football, basketball. I ran a little track. We barbequed a lot, just kind of hung out.

Josh: What professional experiences and positions have you held?

Victor Anderson: Well I’ve worked for, well the first job I had was with the United States Army. I joined the army when I was seventeen. I was a technical engineer, so I did surveying and drafting and laying out blue prints for buildings and things like that. When I was at Loras, I pulled security on some local establishments. I moved onto Four Oaks. I worked there. I worked with Juvenile Court Services as a tracker. Once I moved back to Oklahoma, I became a Juvenile Probation Officer. I am currently a Juvenile Probation Officer for the State of Iowa now.

Josh: What, has the Civil Rights Movement in any way affected you?

Victor Anderson: Well the Civil Rights Movement is obviously an important part of history. For me personally, I’ve had a little involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. But from speaking with, you know, my grandmother and my aunts and uncles who had an opportunity to participate and be active members of the Civil Rights Movement, and I understand that the sacrifices that everyone, not only my family, but other people’s family made is a vital part of why I was able to get my education, move to Iowa and have an opportunity to be a successful professional.

Josh: What was segregation like for you?

Victor Anderson: I don’t have any real experience with segregation. Like I said before, when I speak with my Grandmother, she is able to tell me about having a drink, you know, at the colored water fountain and whites only and not being able to sit down on the bus, things of that nature. But me personally, I have not experienced it.

Josh: What organizations have you been involved in?

Victor Anderson: Well I’m in, do a lot of involvement in the community. I’ve had an opportunity when I was at Loras College, to join the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated, which is a great organization that is involved in the community and does a lot of programming to improve the community. As far as the organizations that I work that with now, myself and Robert Kimble, we helped develop the Dare To Be King program that we currently participate in. There are others, but I’m drawing a blank right now, the other organizations that I participate in. I am currently involved with the revitalization of the Washington neighborhood here in Dubuque to help improve the community in that area.

Josh: Why did you choose to get involved with these organizations?

Victor Anderson: Well, I think it’s a great opportunity. Like I said Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity gives you an opportunity. If you want to get involved in your community you get to do that with other members who, in the fraternity, have some of the same goals that you do. I think it’s important for everyone to get involved in their community. You can either complain about what’s going on or try to fix the problem. And as far as I’m concerned if you’re not trying to fix the problem, then you’re a part of the problem.

Josh: Who are your connections?

Victor Anderson: I don’t really have any connections. Like I said I moved here, just about, almost two years ago. I’ve had opportunity to meet some pretty good people. But you know I don’t really, I don’t know anybody that I can say yeah this is my go to person. I know that Robert Kimble’s been pretty helpful with helping me try to accomplish some of the things that I would like to accomplish.

Josh: What were you doing to be involved before?

Victor Anderson: Before I moved to Iowa I was involved, I helped, just one example of getting involved in the community, I helped develop a juvenile drug court program that at the time that I left Oklahoma, it was recognized as the top program in the state of Oklahoma for juveniles. I did a lot of community service outreach groups were we took kids out. I did some community service and then had an opportunity to do some fun stuff afterwards. Those are a couple of examples of the stuff I got involved in.

Josh: How does your family fell about you getting involved?

Victor Anderson: Well my wife, who I love to death, I think I’ll say that. She, you know, she wasn’t that thrilled about the involvement that I do, just because it’s, it’s time consuming. I mean it takes up a lot of your time. Which means your family makes sacrifices ’cause you don’t get to take as much time with them as you would like to. And so she, the more stuff I get involved in, she understands, she thinks it is a great idea, but sometimes she’s not thrilled about it.

Josh: What leadership experiences did you have in college?

Victor Anderson: Well, I was the president of my fraternity’s chapter at Loras College. I was also in charge, I won’t say in charge, but I was the lead on like the community service work crew groups. That’s about the extent of my leadership in college.

Josh: What are some of your biggest accomplishments?

Victor Anderson: Some of my biggest accomplishments. As I previously mentioned I think the Juvenile Drug Court program
that I helped start from the ground up, is a pretty big accomplishment. It’s still running today since I left. I am pretty proud of getting an opportunity to start the Dare To Be King program. I think that it is, it’s a great program. So those are probably two of my favorites.

Josh: What was your happiest and saddest memory?

Victor Anderson: One of the happiest memories that I’ve had is when I completed my master’s degree I had a chance to walk across the stage. A lot of hard work went into that. Again my family made sacrifices with my studies. So that was a great moment. My Grandmother got to see that. So I was pretty happy about that. Probably the saddest moment that I’ve had is when I was 15, my Mom passed away. So that kind of left me, for the lack of a better word I’ll say “homeless”. Cause my Dad, my Mom and Dad had divorced when I was really young. So, not really knowing what direction I was going to go into next just kind of being lost and confused. That was probably the saddest moment that I can remember.

Josh: If you could change your experiences in the community what would it be?

Victor Anderson: I don’t think I would change any of my experiences in the community. Because I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. You get an opportunity to learn from that regardless if it’s a good experience or a bad experience. It’ll help make you who you are. So I would not change any of my experiences.

Josh: What are your plans for the future?

Victor Anderson: My plans for the future is to settle in the Dubuque community. Work hard. Obviously shoot for advancements in my work. But I really want to make a big impact on making the life of juveniles in the community of Dubuque better. So that’s my plans for the future.

Josh: In twenty years what is one thing you want people to remember about you?

Victor Anderson: I want people to remember, that everything I did, whether they viewed it as good or bad, everything I did was to make things better for others. I think that I’ve always liked giving back to the community, regardless of which community I was in. And in twenty years I just hope that people say that he that did good work and a job well done.

Josh: What advice would you give African Americans in this community?

Victor Anderson: The advice I would give African Americans in this community would be that we are all responsible for things that go on in the community. I think that we should all step up to the plate. If we could come together on issues that affect us, I think we could get a lot done. So I would say that some things worth doing it’s not going to be easy, but if we come together and work on those we can accomplish that.

Josh: Thank you.

Victor Anderson: Thank you.