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Capitol Pillars

From the state's birth to 2004, Minnesota elected only one African American State...

9/22/2004

North Star: Minnesota's Black Pioneers

Capitol Pillars

Clip: Episode 1 | 10m 9sVideo has Closed Captions

From the state's birth to 2004, Minnesota elected only one African American State...

From the state's birth to 2004, Minnesota elected only one African American State Senator and seven black House Members. Minnesota had also not yet sent a black Senator to Washington, nor had it elected a single black representative to the national House. These despairing figures stand in sharp contrast to the African American men and women who toiled to create the building, such as...

9/22/2004

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North Star: Minnesota's Black Pioneers is a local public television program presented by Minnesota PBS

Bonga

Video has Closed Captions

Clip: Ep1 | 8m | Half black, half Ojibwe, George Bonga was the first-known person of African ancestry... (8m)

Fearless and from the West

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Clip: Ep1 | 11m 25s | In a time when it was rare for African American women to work as "professionals... (11m 25s)

Hallock's Handyman

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Clip: Ep1 | 4m 44s | Inventor, racecar driver and self-taught engineer Frederick McKinley Jones is... (4m 44s)

Minnesotans March

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Clip: Ep1 | 11m 41s | The historic March on Washington solidified the Civil Rights Movement. For the... (11m 41s)

On the Side of Freedom

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Clip: Ep1 | 11m 7s | In 1857, Emily Grey set foot on the banks of St. Anthony Falls. In Minnesota... (11m 7s)

Our Able Attorney

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Clip: Ep1 | 10m 17s | Fredrick McGhee was Minnesota's first black lawyer. His good looks, articulate speech... (10m 17s)

Pilgrim's Progress

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Clip: Ep1 | 7m 28s | In 1863, Missouri slave preacher Robert Hickman led a community of African Americans... (7m 28s)

Portrait of Progress

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Clip: Ep1 | 7m 2s | At the turn of the 20th century, Harry Shepherd was one of Minnesota's most... (7m 2s)

Presence of the Past

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Clip: Ep1 | 12m 51s | In June of 1920, six black circus workers were wrongly accused of raping a white... (12m 51s)

Prince of Fergus Falls

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Clip: Ep1 | 9m 6s | In 1900, Fergus Falls was home to over 50 African Americans. The first among them was... (9m 6s)

Renaissance Women

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Clip: Ep1 | 9m 35s | In between World Wars, the Harlem renaissance gave rise to a "new kind of Negro... (9m 35s)

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