Lydia B. Angier was declared insane and committed against her will to Rochester State Hospital in 1896. For the next three years, she wrote letters arguing for her release and restoration to her old life in St. Paul, where she had run a newspaper stand. Her letters provide a window into life inside hospitals for the insane at the turn of the twentieth century, where many people faced poor living conditions and abuse.

Welsch v. Likins (1974) was a landmark legal case for disability rights in Minnesota. It dealt with three issues fundamental to the disability community. First, it addressed the right to treatment under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Second, the case confronted the provision of care in the least restrictive of environments, including home and community-based services (HCBS). Third, it questioned whether institutional environments violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

On November 7, 1987, roughly 400 people representing Minnesota’s gay community—including allies and activists—protested an AIDS conference in St. Paul sponsored by a conservative Christian political organization called the Berean League. With over 1,500 people in attendance, it was the largest gathering in the state to date addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis. It was also a show of force for fundamentalist Christians and other conservatives who opposed gay rights.

In April 1970, Minneapolis public school teachers went on strike to demand higher pay and smaller class sizes. The strike resulted in the passage of the Public Employment Labor Relations Act, granting public employees—including teachers—the right to bargain collectively.

The Nonpartisan League nominated Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. as its candidate to challenge Governor Joseph A. A. Burnquist in the June 1918 Republican primary. Although Burnquist prevailed and went on to win the general election in November, the bitter, often violent campaign transformed Minnesota politics.

On Tuesday, December 12, 2006, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided six meat-processing plants in six US states, including one in Worthington, Minnesota. At the Worthington plant alone, 239 workers were detained, leaving the city’s 11,283 residents in a state of turmoil. Children and families sought out community churches for asylum while local organizations worked tirelessly to establish faith-based and interpersonal networks to support the Worthington community.

Sarah Jane Steele is born in Pennsylvania. She married fur trader Henry Sibley in 1843; when he became the state of Minnesota's first governor in 1858, she became its first First Lady. Before her death in 1869, she advocated for historical preservation, making a particular effort to save and interpret Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. The Sibleys' own house in Mendota has been called "the Mount Vernon of Minnesota."

On August 21, 1965, the Beatles played their one and only concert in Minnesota. Beatlemania was in full throat that night at Metropolitan Stadium, where the screaming fans drowned out the group’s half-hour set. But the hijinks had only just begun. In an episode straight from the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, the band's sleepover at the Minneapolis Leamington Motor Inn involved chases between fans and hotel security, a limo driver roped in for off-duty crowd control, a reporter disguised as a waitress, and the police.

FBI and INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) agents arrest Zacarias Moussaoui in Minneapolis for an immigration violation. They find weapons and Boeing flight manuals in his possession, and in an ensuing trial (held after the terrorist attacks on September 11), Moussaoui admits to conspiring with al-Quaeda. The extent of his involvement in planning the September 11 attacks in particular is disputed.

Minnesotan Charles A. Lindbergh, a native of Little Falls, lands his airplane The Spirit of St. Louis outside Paris, sealing his achievement as the first person to complete a nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.