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 14, 1997 - MPR’s Maryann Sullivan interviews jazz bassist Anthony Cox, who discusses his return to Twin Cities in hopes of supporting a stronger jazz scene in area.
August 21, 1997 - MPR’s John Biewen presents the second of two reports on how the growth of the black population is affecting race relations in the Twin Cities. Report includes commentary from residents, politicians, and academics.
August 21, 1997 - MPR’s John Biewen presents the first of two reports on how the Twin Cities are responding to black newcomers. Report includes commentary from residents, politicians, and academics.
October 6, 1997 - Midday’s Gary Eichten talks with guest Emmett Carson, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation, about the foundation's Sunday newspaper supplement intended to encourage inter-racial understanding. Listeners call in with questions.
December 19, 1997 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on Penumbra's Black Nativity. Every family has their holiday traditions, but few are as complex as one Minneapolis family, whose season revolves around the Penumbra Theatre's annual production.
February 6, 1998 - Lou Bellamy, Penumbra's artistic director, says his theater has outgrown its current home in the Hallie Q. Brown/Martin Luther King Center and is looking to be a part of African American arts complex in St. Paul.
February 23, 1998 - As part of the continuing MPR series Voices of Minnesota, a presentation of conversations with James Griffin, one of Minnesota's first Black police officers and first deputy police chief for St. Paul; and Hennepin County Judge Pamela Alexander, Minnesota's first Black female judge.
February 27, 1998 - Audio excerpts of Dorothea Mockabee recalling life in the Twin Cities. Mockabee grew up in Saint Paul. Her father owned a barbershop on Rondo Avenue in the section of the city where most black people lived.
February 27, 1998 - Audio excerpts of Harry Davis recalling life in the Twin Cities. Davis eventually became chairman of the Minneapolis School Board. He grew up in Minneapolis during the Depression.
March 19, 1998 - Minneapolis playwright Kim Hines tells the story of three prominent African American women of the time who are largely unknown to most Minnesotans. Hines has written monologues portraying the life of businesswoman Amanda Lyle, social worker Gertrude Brown, and attorney Lena Smith.