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.

MN90: Itchless Underwear

MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds

Minneapolis-based Munsingwear cornered the union suit market in the early 1900s and went on to become the largest underwear company in the world. MN90 producer Marisa Helms tells us that Munsingwear’s rise to under garment dominance all started with the invention of “itchless wool,” a revolution in its time.

MN90: Jim Denomie’s Year of Daily Paintings

Jim Denomie, an Ojibwe artist in Minneapolis, had been painting for only fifteen years. Now fifty, he wanted to bring the fun back into his art by making a painting a day for a year. But that was after spending all day at his construction job. MN90’s Britt Aamodt tells the story.

MN90: Joe Huie’s Cafe

Politicians ate there. Celebrities, too, apparently even a king—Elvis Presley. It was Joe Huie’s Café, open twenty-four hours, every day. And, for twenty years, it was the place to go for Chinese in Duluth. Britt Aamodt reports.

MN90: Kiss Me, I'm Minnesotan

Archbishop John Ireland helped numerous Irish prosper in America and Minnesota. MN90 Producer Allison Herrera talks about the man behind the boulevard in St. Paul. Includes an interview with Ann Regan, author of Irish in Minnesota, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2002.

MN90: Minnesota's African American Press

Minnesota has one of the more robust black newspaper scenes in the country. At one time, there were nearly one hundred. The oldest such newspaper is The Minnesota Spokesman Recorder, based in Minneapolis. As Allison Herrera points out, these newspapers not only informed African Americans about news and culture of the day, they did it with literary flair.

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