MN90: George Bonga: Minnesota's First Fur Trader

Half black, half Ojibwe, George Bonga was the first person of African descent born in what was then the territory of Minnesota in 1802. He was a fur trader and a treaty translator that forged vital relationships with both Europeans and Native Americans. Allison Herrera tells us more about his important role in Minnesota history.

MN90: Hello from Minnesota, Herr Hitler

August 1933, Charles Fremont Dight, Minnesota physician and founder of the Minnesota Eugenics Society, was tapping out a letter of congratulations. His recipient? Germany’s new chancellor, Adolf Hitler. MN90's Britt Aamodt reports.

MN90: Home of the Grange

When Oliver Kelley began farming in Minnesota during the mid-1850s, he was frustrated by the low status of farmers and the isolation of rural life. So along with six others, he started an organization called the Grange, which as MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel explains, changed agrarian life in America by bringing farmers together to socialize and advocate for themselves. Includes an interview with Bob Quist of Oliver Kelley Farm.

MN90: Honeywell's Hot Little Thermostat

The Honeywell round thermostat design is one of the most user-friendly and underappreciated appliance designs of all time. MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel explains what has made the “T86 Round” so popular and so enduring.

MN90: Honeywell's Hot Little Thermostat

The Honeywell round thermostat design is one of the most user-friendly and underappreciated appliance designs of all time. MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel explains what has made the “T86 Round” so popular and so enduring.

MN90: Hormel Meat Packers' Strike of 1985

In the summer of 1985, hundreds of workers walked off their jobs at a Hormel food packing plant in Austin, Minnesota, when the company cut workers' hourly wage and benefits. As producer Sam Radwany reports in this MN90 segment, the strike tested the union’s limits, and put the community on a national stage.

MN90: Horsecars

Britt Aamodt describes the introduction horse-drawn streetcars to the Twin Cities in the 1870s.

MN90: In the Aftermath of Pearl Harbor

Not every West Coast American of Japanese descent was herded into an internment camp after Pearl Harbor. Some, like Ruth Tanbara and her husband, Earl, were compelled to relocate to places like St. Paul, Minnesota. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Into The Bright Sunshine Of Human Rights

Segment on on the career of Hubert H. Humphrey from MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds.

MN90: Inventing the Slider

MN90 producer Marisa Helms describes the life of Charles Albert Bender, born on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota and later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Includes an interview with Tom Swift, author of Chief Bender's Burden, published by the University of Nebraska Press, 2010.

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