Black Facts for Black History February 2023
James Samuel Harris Jr.
Harris performs in The Current's Studio
Picture by Mouauia_Rafii_Jr. CC BY-SA 3.0 Created: 15 August 2018
Harris was born James Samuel Harris Jr. on April 23, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of James Samuel Harris Sr. (1893–1930), a gambler, and his wife, Alberta Jones Nelson (1895–1930). When his father was shot while gambling and his mother died of grieving, he was orphaned at age 3. He lived with foster families until he was 11 or 12 when he and his sister went to live with his grandparents in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has been married four times. One of his daughters died. He is the father of Jimmy Jam (James Harris III) who produced records for Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Usher.[1]
Country music was an early influence, and Hank Williams and Gene Autry are among his early favorites. Harris helped invent Augie Garcia's "Hi Yo Silver," a 1955 song that was Minnesota's first rock 'n' roll recording. He performed on the record, which he called a one-hit wonder[1] (although Garcia is remembered as the godfather of Minnesota rock 'n' roll because of Augie's antics on stage upstaging Elvis Presley.[3]). Harris was in the U.S. military and later worked for about 25 years for American Hoist & Derrick.[1]
His repertoire includes blues and jazz and in his nineties, Harris still plays Minneapolis nightclubs[4] including the Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown, Clubhouse Jäger in the North Loop and Palmer's[5] and the Nomad World Pub on the West Bank.[6] Harris is a mentor to Cadillac Kolstad and City Pages calls them the "must-see dueling-piano act in town".
For this article and more visit Cornbread Harris - Wikipedia
Nellie Stone Johnson
Nellie Stone Johnson (December 17, 1905 – April 2, 2002) was an American civil rights activist and union organizer. She was the first African-American elected official in Minneapolis[1] and shaped Minnesota politics for 70 years.
Johnson helped form the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) and spearheaded the effort to create the first Fair Employment Practices department in the nation. She counseled both Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale and was on the Democratic National Committee in the 1980s.
Article From Nellie Stone Johnson - Wikipedia
Judge Pamela Alexander
Retired Hennepin County Judge Pamela Alexander, 66, is a fourth-generation Minnesotan and the first black female judge in Minnesota.
Her interest in law was sparked at a young age when she witnessed the rape of her best friend and testified in court.
She was fascinated by the process and was treated kindly by the judge. Her mother found Joyce Hughes, a young, black lawyer who Alexander could shadow. She sat in on meetings with clients, swept the floor and took out the trash.
After getting a bachelor's degree at Augsburg College, Alexander continued her studies under Hughes at the University of Minnesota, where she
Retired Judge Pamela Alexander sits for a portrait at MPR in St. Paul on Friday. Evan Frost | MPR News
was a classmate of now-retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page. She was appointed to the Hennepin County Municipal Court in 1983 as the first African-American woman and served until 2008 as the first African-American woman and served until 2008. In 2013, former Gov. Mark Dayton reappointed her to the Fourth Judicial District Court in Minneapolis. She retired in 2018.
John Frank Wheaton
https://www.mnopedia.org/multimedia/john-frank-wheaton
John Francis (J. Frank) Wheaton, a Twin Cities lawyer and orator, became the first African American elected to serve in the Minnesota legislature in 1898. A target of racial prejudice throughout his life, Wheaton believed in the political process as a means to improve the state’s civil rights laws.
Wheaton was born on May 8, 1866, in Hagerstown, Maryland, to Jacob Francis and Emily Green Wheaton.
He valued education and worked hard to attain it. At Storer College in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, he earned a teaching degree and taught school while studying law. Later, he took a summer business course at Dixon Business College in Illinois. In 1892, he obtained a law degree from Howard University Law School in Washington, DC. After months of struggle against discriminatory practices, Wheaton was admitted to the Maryland Bar and permitted to practice law.
Facts and full article from: https://www.mnopedia.org/person/wheaton-john-francis-1866-1922
Clarence Wigington
Clarence Wigington, the nation’s first African American municipal architect, served as lead architect in over ninety St. Paul city projects. His legacy in brick and stone has lasted well into the twenty-first century. He designed both the enduring (schools, fire stations, park buildings) and the ephemeral (five Winter Carnival ice palaces).
Article and more: https://www.mnopedia.org/person/wigington-clarence-1883-1967
Lena Olive Smith
Lena Olive Smith was a prominent civil rights lawyer and activist during the 1920s and 1930s. She made major contributions toward securing civil rights for minorities in the Twin Cities. Smith began fighting for the rights of others when she became the first African American woman licensed to practice law in Minnesota in 1921. She was the only African American woman to practice law in the state until 1945.
Facts from https://www.mnopedia.org/person/smith-lena-olive-1885-1966
Lorraine Love
Learn more about LaNoire Bridal at LaNoireBridal.com Also, be sure to follow the store on Instagram at @LaNoireBridal
Lorraine Love, an African American entrepreneur from St Paul, Minnesota, has made history after recently opening LaNoire Bridal, the first-ever Black-owned bridal store in the entire state of Minnesota.
"I played around with a bunch of different names, and I thought what does Black mean in other languages and that’s when I came across La Noire. And I thought that’s beautiful," Love said in an interview with Fox 9 Minneapolis. "And also realizing that, when I was doing my research that we didn’t have any Black-owned bridal shops here in Minnesota so that was another driver to me being in this field right now,"
That's the reason Love stepped up to open the LaNoire Bridal store in May 2022, hoping to make all brides feel welcome and comfortable. Love said she makes sure that every bride is confident to express her true self in the dress that she will wear on her very special day.
https://www.blackbusiness.com/2022/11/lorraine-love-lanoire-woman-makes-history-opens-first-ever-black-owned-bridal-store-minnesota.html
Dred and Harriet Scott
Engravings of Harriet Robinson Scott (at left) and Dred Scott (at right) that appeared in the June 27, 1857, edition of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.
African Americans Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson Scott lived at Fort Snelling in the 1830s as enslaved people. Both the Northwest Ordinance (1787) and the Missouri Compromise (1820) prohibited slavery in the area, but slavery existed there even so. In the 1840s the Scotts sued for their freedom, arguing that having lived in “free territory” made them free. The 1857 Supreme Court decision that grew out of their suit moved the U.S. closer to civil war.
https://www.mnopedia.org/event/dred-and-harriet-scott-minnesota
Nelson Mandela
On February 11th, 32 years ago, South African President FW De Klerk ordered the release of Nelson Mandela after receiving a life sentence for leading a movement to end South African apartheid. The apartheid was an institutionalized system of racial segregation that existed in South Africa between 1948 and 1991. He was sentenced to serve life in prison. Mandela was imprisoned at Victor Verster Prison in Cape Town for 27 years. He faced harsh conditions meant to break his resolve, but Mandela refused to give up his efforts to achieve equality for all people.
Historyonthisday.com
President Barak Obama
On this day 16 years ago Obama traveled to Springfield, Illinois, to announce his campaign for president. Standing before 17,000 people in front of the Old State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln once served, then-Senator Obama laid out the stakes for the 2008 election. The city was chosen because of its symbolism. Springfield was where Obama and Abraham Lincoln started their political careers. In Obama’s address, he stated “I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know the ways of Washington must change,”
“And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you this day to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America.
Obama 2008-20016
Article From the Chicago Sun Times
Alice Walker
Ms. Alice Walker is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. Alice Made history as the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature as well as the National Book Award in 1983 for her novel “The Color Purple.” The book became a bestseller and was subsequently adapted into a critically acclaimed 1985 movie directed by Steven Spielberg, featuring Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as a 2005 Broadway musical totaling 910 performances.
BlackLadies.org and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thurgood Marshall
Picture Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Thurgood Marshall- Was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African American justice. Marshall was confirmed in a 69-11 floor vote to join the Court. Prior to his judicial service, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases he argued before the Supreme Court, culminating in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court in 1967. A staunch liberal, he frequently dissented as the Court became increasingly conservative. If you like to join the great discussion, please register using the link below.
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcO-grDsiE9B53pWhIxthZwN06nVdXf_V
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archie Givens
Undated photo from 1949 of Archie Givens, Sr., center, at the Givens Ice Cream Bar, which opened in Minneapolis in 1947. (Courtesy of the Givens Foundation)
A prominent businessman and successful real estate developer, Archie Givens became Minnesota’s first African American millionaire in 1974. Archie Givens was born in Minneapolis in 1919 to an indentured servant. His parents died young, and at the young age of 14, Archie was orphaned. Mr. Givens did not allow life’s unfair circumstances to stop him from finding love and in 1940 he married Phebe O'Shields, having met while growing up in North Minneapolis. With the love of his life by his side Mr. Givens opened an ice parlor. Enjoying the success of this business venture the Givens later opened the first integrated nursing home in Minnesota where Phebe Givens became the first black woman to be licensed within the state as a nursing home administrator. When it became legal for black families to own homes Mr. Givens developed housing. Founded in 1972 as a scholarship organization, the Archie and Phebe Mae Givens Foundation sponsors emerging black authors and community reading campaigns. Archie Givens Sr.'s Collection of African American Literature spans more than 10,000 rare and first-edition books and manuscripts at the University of Minnesota.
Archie Givens died in 1974.
Pierre Chimakadewiiash Bonga
Pierre Chimakadewiiash Bonga- Was the first recorded black-skinned person to have migrated to the state of Minnesota. Early on Pierre worked as a black trapper and interpreter. He later worked for John Jacob Astor's American Fur and as a guide for the famous explorer Alexander Henry Jr. It was at this time Pierre is said to have met and married an Ojibwe woman Ogibwayquay. The couple had three children. The older two children’s births are recorded as being delivered between the Lake Superior and Wisconsin territories. However, the couple’s third child, a son George Bonga was born near what is considered Duluth MN on August 20th, 1802. George Bonga is considered the first African American born in Minnesota.
Frederick McKinley Jones
Frederick McKinley Jones- was an American inventor, entrepreneur, engineer, winner of the National Medal of Technology, and an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 1912, Jones was born in Covington, Kentucky on May 17, 1893. By age 14 Jones was working as an automobile mechanic and was later named garage foreman. Jones was largely self-taught. Jones moved to Hallock, Minnesota where he worked as a mechanic on a farm. Jones later worked at Ultraphone Sound Systems Inc., which was later renamed Cinema Supplies Inc as an electrical engineer to improve the audio equipment made by his firm. Around 1938, following a request, Jones began designing the Thermo Control Model A automatic truck refrigeration unit. There were many Model units to follow but In 1941, Jones completed the development of the Model C, which was by far his smallest and most lightweight design. In 1939, Jones filed for a patent for the Model A and received a patent for it on July 12, 1949. Portable cooling units designed by Jones were especially important during World War II, preserving blood, medicine, and food for use at army hospitals and on open battlefields. Model C units were manufactured for military use, following the war the units became available for commercial use. The U.S. Thermo Control Company (later the Thermo King Corporation) became a $3 million business by 1949. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Keith Ellison
Keith Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress and the first African American to be elected to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Congress. Keith Ellison, a Detroit native, moved to Minnesota, where he earned his law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1990. Keith practiced law as a criminal defense and civil rights attorney for 16 years, including five years as executive director of the Legal Rights Center. In 2002, Ellison was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives for House District 58B. In 2006 Ellison became the first Muslim to be elected to the US Congress. He is also the first Black man from Minnesota to the House of Representatives. Ellison was the U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2019. He also served as the titular Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2018. In Congress, And was a vice chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a Chief Deputy Whip. He also sat on the House Committee on Financial Services. After wearing many hats on June 5, 2018, Ellison announced that he would not seek reelection to a seventh term in Congress in 2018, but would add yet another hat and run for Minnesota Attorney General. In 2018 Keith was elected Attorney General. From www.Keithellison.org
“It’s my job as Attorney General and the People’s Lawyer to help Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect.”
- Keith Ellison
Prince Rogers Nelson
Prince Rogers Nelson (Prince) was a legendary singer-songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist musician, philanthropist, and producer. Prince produced his albums himself, pioneering the Minneapolis sound. His music incorporated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, synth-pop, pop, jazz, and hip-hop. With countless awards and achievements, the best word to describe such an amazing person is LEGEND. Prince The Minnesota Legend has been honored with a star on the outside mural of the Minneapolis nightclub First Avenue. His legacy lives on as he will forever be THE MINNEAPOLIS LEGEND!
Born and raised in Minneapolis, Prince signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records at the age of 19, soon releasing the albums For You (1978) and Prince (1979). He went on to achieve critical success with the influential albums Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982). His sixth album, Purple Rain (1984), was recorded with his new backing band the Revolution and was also the soundtrack to the film of the same name in which he starred. Purple Rain garnered continued success for Prince and was a major commercial achievement, spending six consecutive months atop the Billboard 200 chart.[7] The soundtrack also won Prince the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. After disbanding the Revolution, Prince released the album Sign o' the Times (1987), widely hailed by critics as the greatest work of his career. In the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, he changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol (known to fans as the "Love Symbol") and was often referred to as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (or TAFKAP) or simply The Artist.
Prince sold over 150 million records worldwide, ranking him among the best-selling music artists of all time. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2016. In 2016, he was posthumously honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Minnesota. He was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022. He has won seven Grammy Awards, seven Brit Awards, six American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the film Purple Rain), and a Golden Globe Award. Two of his albums, Purple Rain (1984) and Sign o' the Times (1987), received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year nominations. 1999 (1982), Purple Rain and Sign of the Times have all been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. At the 28th Grammy Awards, Prince was awarded the President's Merit Award. Prince was also honored with the American Music Award for Achievement and American Music Award of Merit at the American Music Awards of 1990 and the American Music Awards of 1995 respectively. At the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, he was honored with the Billboard Icon Award. In 2019, the 1984 film Purple Rain was added by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis- Are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists. Terry Lewis, in tandem with partner Jimmy Jam, has written 41 Top 10 hits in the U.S., and also with Jam, has more Billboard No. 1 hits than any other songwriting/production team in history. In 2022, the duo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category.
Lewis was born in Omaha, Neb., on November 24, 1956. Jimmy Jam is the son of a Minneapolis blues and jazz musician born in Minneapolis MN on June 6, 1959. Jimmy Jam met Lewis while he was a student at Washburn High School in Minneapolis. They did not meet in class, however, but while attending a TRIO Upward Bound program for urban youth on the University of Minnesota campus. According to their Flyte Tyme publicity literature, the precise locus of the meeting was "over a piano." The initial encounter, nonetheless, did not blossom into a career option until some years later; in the meantime, Lewis was pursuing a high school athletic career that won him a football scholarship to Notre Dame University, and Jam was earning his nickname spinning records for dancers at Minneapolis clubs. Later after a knee injury altered Lewis’s future he formed and played bass in a band called Flyte Tyme which evolved into the Time in the mid-1970s, sharing the funk spotlight with another homegrown Minneapolis superstar, Prince. The Lewis-Jam musical connection blossomed in the late 1970s when Lewis invited his friend to play keyboards for his band; they would begin regularly writing songs together early in 1981. Since forming their music company Flyte Tyme in 1982, Jam & Lewis has earned more than 100 gold, platinum, multi-platinum, and diamond albums for their work with such artists. Jam & Lewis have won five Grammy Awards. They have received the most nominations for Producer of the Year, with 11 nominations. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alan C. Page
Alan C Page- Former right defensive tackle for the Minnesota Viking made history on November 3, 1992, by winning election to the Minnesota Supreme Court and, in so doing, becoming the first African-American to serve on the Court. Justice Page was re-elected in 1992, 1998, 2004, and 2010, serving on the Court until 2015 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. Along with writing hundreds of opinions and orders for the Court, Justice Page has also authored four children's books: Alan and his Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky, The Invisible You, Grandpa Alan's Sugar Shack and Bee Love. Page is also known for his commitment to community, as is evidenced by his service on the board of directors of the Minneapolis Urban League from 1987 until 1990, as a member of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota from 1989 until 1993, and as the founder of the Page Education Foundation, which provides financial support to Minnesota's youth of color to pursue higher education. As a testament to his commitment to education, Alexander Ramsey Middle School in Minneapolis was renamed Justice Page Middle School in June 2017. In 2018, Page was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Born August 7, 1945, in Canton, Ohio, Alan Cedric Page attended Central Catholic High School in Canton, graduating in 1963. Page played football and earned a scholarship to Notre Dame, where he helped lead his team to a National championship in 1966. Page was also named to the college football All American team for 1966. He graduated with his bachelor of arts degree in 1967 and moved to Minnesota to play professional football for the Minnesota Vikings. Page played in four Super Bowl games with the Vikings and received many awards including the National Football League's Most Valuable Player award in 1971. After eleven years with the Vikings, Page was traded to the Chicago Bears in 1978 and played on the Chicago team until his retirement from professional football in 1981. Perhaps more impressive than his many athletic awards, is the fact that Page completed his legal education while continuing to play professional football. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1978, while playing for the Vikings. In addition, Page began practicing law at the Minneapolis firm of Lindquist and Vennum in 1979, where he continued until 1984. During his first three years of practice, he completed his legal work during the off seasons while continuing to play for the Chicago Bears. After retiring from professional football in 1981, Alan Page served as Special Assistant Attorney General in the Employment Law Division from 1985 until 1987, and then as Assistant Attorney General from 1987 to 1993. Page made history on November 3, 1992, by winning election to the Minnesota Supreme Court and, in so doing, becoming the first African-American to serve on the Court. Justice Page was re-elected in 1992, 1998, 2004, and 2010, serving on the Court until 2015 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. Page is also known for his commitment to community, as is evidenced by his service on the board of directors of the Minneapolis Urban League from 1987 until 1990, as a member of the board of regents of the University of Minnesota from 1989 until 1993, and as the founder of the Page Education Foundation, which provides financial support to Minnesota's youth of color to pursue higher education. As a testament to his commitment to education, Alexander Ramsey Middle School in Minneapolis was renamed Justice Page Middle School in June 2017.
Along with writing hundreds of opinions and orders for the Court, Justice Page has also authored four children's books: Alan and his Perfectly Pointy Impossibly Perpendicular Pinky, The Invisible You, Grandpa Alan's Sugar Shack and Bee Love.
In 2018, Page was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He counts his greatest success as his 45 year marriage to the late Diane Sims Page as well as his children Kamie Page, Nina Page, Justin Page, and Georgi Page. Article on Alan Page is from the Minnesota State Law Library.