Need Help/Advice on Research Topic on MN History

[Govie]

Okay, I am confident that my subject will be in/on African American history. If you guys and gals could toss some ideas more specific out that would be cool.

[uptown_urbanist]

The Rondo neighborhood is sort of THE historical topic relating to African American history in St. Paul; that might be a good place to start. There are a couple of books out there on the neighborhood; maybe flip through one of those and see if any specific people/places/events catch your eye. Since you're interested in the geography of things, too, maybe something along the lines of where people went after the neighborhood was destroyed? I'm sure there's some variation on some related Rondo topic that hasn't already been done to death.

Here's MHS's intro to the subject, complete with links to some of their resources:
Rondo Neighborhood & the Building of I-94 : Library : MNHS.ORG

[Camden Northsider]

So, my post here is a little late considering you've already made your decision (and this isn't really related to the choice you made), but one area that I haven't seen much research on in terms of changing racial landscapes in MN are the changes taking place in rural MN areas due to the availability of jobs in outstate areas. The most significant changes are in and around the cities/towns that have meatpacking industries due to (a) the availability of jobs and (b) the lack of a labor force in these local areas to fill available positions (either not enough people, or not enough people willing to work in the jobs). The demographics shifts first started happening with the Hispanic population (especially in places like Worthington @ JBS Swift), but have been changing over time as a result of new immigrant and refugee groups coming (Somali and other East African groups, Burmese populations, etc.), recent ICE raids and strict enforcement measures related to employment eligibility, etc. The immigrant groups attracted to these jobs are not only those that are newly arrived to MN, but persons that initially resettled in other states that heard there was availability of good jobs/benefits here (it's not uncommon to find trends like this in cities in other areas of the country that have big plants as well). This year's census data should prove to be interesting, and I'm sure there are some significant stats in a lot of the areas' census data already and/or that could be garnered by surveying the larger employers and/or school districts in these areas, etc... Worthington, Willmar, Faribault, and further outstate areas like Pelican Rapids would all be very interesting studies, as would the perceptions and/or attempts to be inclusive of the newcomers by the host communities.

Regarding African-American history, there's a lot of it here in MN, in both the cities (Rondo is a good suggestion but is pretty known/ well studied, albeit this might make finding references easier) and outstate areas- there are some pretty notable African American historical figures in MN that don't often get the credit they are due. There is a new African African Museum/History Center that has either just opened or is planned to open shortly in South Minneapolis (an old strib article about it here: http://www.startribune.com/local/86771992.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU (broken link)) which could be a good resource if it opens before your paper is due- might be cutting it close.

Otherwise, the Camden area of North Minneapolis has some interesting "niche" African American history (Camden was largely pretty white up until the last several decades, but it definitely has its pockets of African-American history) that I don't think too many people are aware of. If you go to Humboldt Avenue North between 49th and 51st Avenues North (the area now known as Humboldt Greenway- http://www.humboldtgreenway.com/), there is a historical marker somewhere along the park or boulevard areas on a plaque that talks about African American history in the Shingle Creek neighborhood area right around there. There are other examples too- some good resources in addition to local libraries might be the Camden Community Historical Society and/or past articles in (or staff at) the Camden News- they always have a little history blurb called "Behind the Flagpole", but it generally seems to be older white residents reminiscing about back in the day, albeit some of them are pretty great amateur historians.

Or do a paper about African American civil rights leaders hailing from MN- there were plenty to be able to fill up your research paper, if you want to get even more specific you could just talk about African American women civil right leaders from MN.

Good luck-

[Haver]

You could try a paper on one or more of the prevailing urban myths, such as those surrounding the black migration from places like Chicago and Gary and East St Louis back in the 90's. Minnesota Public Radio had a series on that and could be a good starting point, and you might be able to get the reporter on it to pass along some notes and research to help with your paper.

[Govie]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

So, my post here is a little late considering you've already made your decision (and this isn't really related to the choice you made), but one area that I haven't seen much research on in terms of changing racial landscapes in MN are the changes taking place in rural MN areas due to the availability of jobs in outstate areas. The most significant changes are in and around the cities/towns that have meatpacking industries due to (a) the availability of jobs and (b) the lack of a labor force in these local areas to fill available positions (either not enough people, or not enough people willing to work in the jobs). The demographics shifts first started happening with the Hispanic population (especially in places like Worthington @ JBS Swift), but have been changing over time as a result of new immigrant and refugee groups coming (Somali and other East African groups, Burmese populations, etc.), recent ICE raids and strict enforcement measures related to employment eligibility, etc. The immigrant groups attracted to these jobs are not only those that are newly arrived to MN, but persons that initially resettled in other states that heard there was availability of good jobs/benefits here (it's not uncommon to find trends like this in cities in other areas of the country that have big plants as well). This year's census data should prove to be interesting, and I'm sure there are some significant stats in a lot of the areas' census data already and/or that could be garnered by surveying the larger employers and/or school districts in these areas, etc... Worthington, Willmar, Faribault, and further outstate areas like Pelican Rapids would all be very interesting studies, as would the perceptions and/or attempts to be inclusive of the newcomers by the host communities.

Regarding African-American history, there's a lot of it here in MN, in both the cities (Rondo is a good suggestion but is pretty known/ well studied, albeit this might make finding references easier) and outstate areas- there are some pretty notable African American historical figures in MN that don't often get the credit they are due. There is a new African African Museum/History Center that has either just opened or is planned to open shortly in South Minneapolis (an old strib article about it here: Making black history available all year | StarTribune.com (http://www.startribune.com/local/86771992.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU - broken link)) which could be a good resource if it opens before your paper is due- might be cutting it close.

Otherwise, the Camden area of North Minneapolis has some interesting "niche" African American history (Camden was largely pretty white up until the last several decades, but it definitely has its pockets of African-American history) that I don't think too many people are aware of. If you go to Humboldt Avenue North between 49th and 51st Avenues North (the area now known as Humboldt Greenway- Humboldt Greenway), there is a historical marker somewhere along the park or boulevard areas on a plaque that talks about African American history in the Shingle Creek neighborhood area right around there. There are other examples too- some good resources in addition to local libraries might be the Camden Community Historical Society and/or past articles in (or staff at) the Camden News- they always have a little history blurb called "Behind the Flagpole", but it generally seems to be older white residents reminiscing about back in the day, albeit some of them are pretty great amateur historians.

Or do a paper about African American civil rights leaders hailing from MN- there were plenty to be able to fill up your research paper, if you want to get even more specific you could just talk about African American women civil right leaders from MN.

Good luck-

Thanks for the sources, which could be helpful down the road.

Originally Posted by Haver

You could try a paper on one or more of the prevailing urban myths, such as those surrounding the black migration from places like Chicago and Gary and East St Louis back in the 90's. Minnesota Public Radio had a series on that and could be a good starting point, and you might be able to get the reporter on it to pass along some notes and research to help with your paper.

That's interesting. So did it dispell a "rumor" that our black communities migrated from those areas? I quote rumor because I thought that was in fact true. In fact I thought Milwaukee, Detroit and Chicago are the areas most of our black Minnesotans originated from. That would be an interesting project, but I don't know how I'd tackle it.

[uptown_urbanist]

I think this is the MPR series Haver's referring to:

MPR: Moving Up, Part One

I think the myth reference is more to do with the reasons for moving (aka "most black people from Chicago and Gary moved to MN because they wanted better welfare benefits"), rather than the moving itself.

[Govie]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

I think this is the MPR series Haver's referring to:

MPR: Moving Up, Part One

I think the myth reference is more to do with the reasons for moving (aka "most black people from Chicago and Gary moved to MN because they wanted better welfare benefits"), rather than the moving itself.

What a fascinating article. That confirmed some suspicions I had about the local culture. This will aid in my initial search towards a focused thesis.