March 22, 2001 - Minnesota Author Evelyn Fairbanks has died at the age of 72. Fairbanks wrote "Days of Rondo," a memoir about growing up in St. Paul's largest black neighborhood in the 1930's and '40's. The Rondo neighborhood was razed in the 1960's to make way for interstate 94. Fairbank's book was published in 1990 and is now in its fourth printing. In 1991, Fairbanks gave up city life and moved to the outskirts of tiny Onamia, Minnesota, where she operated a 20 acre tree farm. In a 1995 interview with Minnesota Public Radio's Beth Friend, Fairbanks described why she was drawn to the country.
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.
November 25, 1993 - MPR’s Liz Hannon interviews director Brian Grandison about the play "Everlasting Arms," with a cast dramatization.
April 17, 1993 - MPR’s Chris Roberts talks with local author Evelyn Fairbanks about The Days of Rondo. The memoir details life in St. Paul’s historic and vibrant Rondo neighborhood during the 1930s to 1950s.
April 14, 1993 - American actor and author Gregory Alan Williams discusses directing his play adaptation of Evelyn Fairbanks’ The Days of Rondo book. The play is being staged at Great American History Theatre in St. Paul.
February 21, 1992 - Black writer and educator Evelyn Fairbanks talks with MPR’s Paula Schroeder about researching rural Black Americans in Minnesota.
August 18, 1990 - MPR’s Mark Heistad talks with Evelyn Fairbanks, author of the book Days of Rondo. Fairbanks reflects on growing up in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul.