Politics | Page 8

Republican Primary Election, 1918

The Nonpartisan League nominated Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. as its candidate to challenge Governor Joseph A. A. Burnquist in the June 1918 Republican primary. Although Burnquist prevailed and went on to win the general election in November, the bitter, often violent campaign transformed Minnesota politics.

Traverse des Sioux

Prairie land at Traverse des Sioux, the site of the signing of the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, ca. 2010s. Photograph by John Cross courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society.

It’s Time Minnesota button

Button produced by It’s Time Minnesota in 1993. The organization advocated for the amendment of Minnesota’s Human Rights Act to include protections of gay rights.

Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson

Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson, April 8, 1997. Photograph by Dave Saville/FEMA News. Public domain.

Minnesota Representative Karen Clark

Minnesota Representative Karen Clark, ca. 1991.

Governor Harold Levander signs the Minnesota State Act Against Discrimination

Governor Harold Levander (seated) signs the Minnesota State Act Against Discrimination into law in 1967. It was renamed the Minnesota Human Rights Act in 1973.

Minnesota Human Rights Act

Minnesota enacted its first major human rights law in 1967. That statute made it unlawful to discriminate against people based on race, color, creed, and national origin in unions, employment, education, public services, and public accommodations. Over the next twenty-five years DFL legislators tried and failed six times to amend the law to add sexual orientation. They succeeded in 1993.