African Americans | Page 4

Archery class at Hallie Q. Brown House

Archery class at Hallie Q. Brown House, ca. 1950.

Handicrafts exhibition at Hallie Q. Brown House

Girls exhibiting their summer program handicrafts, Hallie Q. Brown House, St. Paul, ca. 1948. Photograph by Robert S. Ihrig.

Lunch time at Hallie Q. Brown nursery school

Lunch time at Hallie Q. Brown House nursery school, St. Paul, ca. 1940.

Child care at Hallie Q. Brown House

A child receives a dose of cod liver oil while at Hallie Q. Brown House, December 1938.

Thanksgiving party at Hallie Q. Brown House

Children attend a Thanksgiving party at Hallie Q. Brown House, November 1, 1937.

Hallie Q. Brown Vagabond Club

Members of the Hallie Q. Brown Vagabond Club with tennis rackets, ca. 1930s. Pictured are (standing, left to right): Arthur Williams, Rosamund Collier, Annett Hatton, Hazel Warricks, Hazel Butler, and Albert Harper. Albert Harper kneels at front.

Hallie Q. Brown House staff, 1935

Hallie Q. Brown House staff, 1935.

Pilgrim Baptist Church, St. Paul

Pilgrim Baptist Church in St. Paul was the first African American Baptist church established in Minnesota. The congregation was founded during the Civil War, in 1863, by enslaved people who had escaped from Missouri, including pastor Robert Thomas Hickman. The church’s third building (732 West Central Ave.) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

MN90: Pilgrim Baptist Church

Tugged along by a steamboat headed North from Missouri, a group of formerly enslaved African American men, women, and children arrived at Fort Snelling in 1863. They were taking their chances for a better life. Calling themselves Pilgrims as they headed up the Mississippi River, they arrived in St. Paul and formed one of the oldest African American churches in Minnesota. Allison Herrera tells us about Pilgrim Baptist Church.

Pilgrim Baptist Church, 1990

Pilgrim Baptist Church (732 Central Avenue West, St. Paul), 1990.

Gale Family Library