MPR has been recording decades of material that reflect the Black experience in Minnesota directly from the voices of members in the community. The wide-ranging subject matter of civil rights, politics, arts & culture, sports, music, education, and business are captured in the stories, memories, commentary, and speeches.
March 22, 1995 - MPR’s Mary Stucky reports on Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton’s views on neighborhood schools. Some in community see it as a return to segregation, others as a community focus to strengthening schools.
May 1, 1995 - On this Voices of Minnesota segment, an interview with W. Harry Davis, local civil rights activist and head of the Minneapolis School Board. Davis discusses busing, mayoral run, curriculum, and concept of equality.
May 1, 1995 - On this Voices of Minnesota segment, an interview with W. Harry Davis, local civil rights activist and head of the Minneapolis School Board. Davis discusses his Twin Cities youth, family experience, and boxing.
June 5, 1995 - As part of MPR’s Voices of Minnesota series, Beth Friend speaks with Evelyn Fairbanks, author of "Days of Rondo." Fairbanks talks of her memoir, an interpretive account of events in the life of a black family from the South struggling for survival and meaning in a northern city. Rondo was a St. Paul black neighborhood that vanished with the coming of the freeways in the 1960s.
June 5, 1995 - As part of MPR’s Voices of Minnesota series, Beth Friend speaks with Evelyn Fairbanks, author of "Days of Rondo." Fairbanks talks of her memoir, an interpretive account of events in the life of a black family from the South struggling for survival and meaning in a northern city. Rondo was a St. Paul black neighborhood that vanished with the coming of the freeways in the 1960s.
July 11, 1995 - MPR’s Gary Eichten interviews historian Arthur McWatt about the history of Black people in Minnesota and the early days of the civil rights movement here. McWatt reflects on Roy Wilkins and local NAACP.
September 23, 1995 - Black poet Yolanda Johnson shares thoughts on her purpose as a writer and reads from her work.
September 30, 1995 - MPR’s Chris Roberts interviews the Minister of Defense of Black Panther Party in Minnesota.
October 16, 1995 - With the Million Man March going on in Washington D.C., Gary Eichten discusses event with Jerry Blakey, St. Paul council member, and Kwame McDonald, executive director of Inner City Youth League. Blakey and McDonald also answer listener questions. Additional program segment of a first-hand perspective from Kevin Young, a Minneapolis carpenter, marching in D.C.
December 18, 1995 - A Voices of Minnesota interview with Lou Bellamy, director of the Penumbra Theatre. MPR’s Chris Roberts talks with Bellamy about family and growing up in St. Paul.