Photograph of the Crispus Attucks Orphanage and Old Folks Home at 1537 Randolph Avenue in St. Paul, c.1910.

Photograph of the Crispus Attucks Orphanage and Old Folks Home at its original location on East Acker Street in St. Paul, c.1905.

While Martin Luther King Jr. may be the name most people think of when they think of civil rights, there’s another seminal character in the story of equality in the U.S. MN90 Producer Andi McDaniel learns about Roy Wilkins, who grew up in St. Paul and attended the University of Minnesota.

To say that Frederick McGhee had a remarkable life would be an understatement. Born into slavery, he became the first African American attorney to practice in MN. He was among the founders of the NAACP. He argued against separate but equal laws in 1910, nearly forty years before Plessy vs. Ferguson. MN90 producer Allison Herrera tells us about his legacy.

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.

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.

Marvel Cooke.

Judge Charles E. Vanderburgh c.1872. Vanderburgh presided over the Eliza Winston court case in August 1860.

Entrance to Winslow House, St. Anthony. 1860 photo by William H. Jacoby.