James H. Burrell, 1890s.

James H. Burrell

James H. Burrell, 1890s.

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin sitting at his desk, ca. 1960s. From box 1 of the James S. Griffin papers (P1679), Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin sitting at his desk, ca. 1960s. From box 1 of the James S. Griffin papers (P1679), Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin sitting at his desk, ca. 1960s. From box 1 of the James S. Griffin papers (P1679), Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin sitting at his desk, ca. 1960s. From box 1 of the James S. Griffin papers (P1679), Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin

St. Paul Police Deputy James S. Griffin sitting at his desk, ca. 1960s. From box 1 of the James S. Griffin papers (P1679), Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society.

Neighborhood Resistance to I-94, 1953–1965

In the 1950s, planned construction of Interstate Highway 94 (I-94) threatened to fracture four Twin Cities neighborhoods: Rondo, Prospect Park, Merriam Park, and Seward. Although each community responded differently and achieved different results, all were models of persistence and resistance.

Racial Housing Covenants in the Twin Cities

Minneapolis real estate developers began writing racial covenants—race-based property ownership restrictions—into property deeds in 1910. They were banned by the Minnesota state legislature in 1953, but their use in the early twentieth century laid the foundation for contemporary racial disparities in Minnesota.

Image of Ida Dorsey’s bordello at 212 Eleventh Avenue South, Minneapolis. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, February 19, 2019. CC BY-SA 4.0

Ida Dorsey’s “sporting house”

Ida Dorsey’s bordello at 212 Eleventh Avenue South, Minneapolis. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user McGhiever, February 19, 2019. CC BY-SA 4.0

Dorsey, Ida (1866–1918)

Employing the racial prejudices and fantasies of elite male clients once used against her, Ida Dorsey established herself as one of the Twin Cities’ most notorious madams, running multiple brothels between the 1880s and the 1910s. As a woman of color in an industry dominated by white women, she demonstrated herself an adept entrepreneur and real estate owner when most women had neither income nor property.

Minnesota Stories: Remember Rondo

"Rondo, a thriving African American community in St. Paul, was virtually eliminated by construction of the I-94 freeway in the 1960s." Video posted to YouTube by the Minnesota Historical Society on July 12, 2013.

Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial

Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial

Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial in Duluth, at the corner of North Second Avenue and East First Street. Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith, October 10, 2003.

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