Lena O. Smith, the Lee family's stand, Prince's Minneapolis sound and George Floyd Square.
Lena O. Smith
In 1921 Lena O. Smith became the first African American woman lawyer in Minnesota. From 1930 to 1939 she led the Minneapolis branch of the NAACP, the first woman to hold the post, and she took on civil rights cases in the city. Her longtime home in South Minneapolis joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
The Lees Stay Put
In 1931 Arthur and Edith Lee bought a house at 4600 Columbus Avenue in South Minneapolis. From early July, neighbors harassed them with insults and threats, and the crowds outside grew into the hundreds and then the thousands. Arthur Lee, a veteran of the First World War, told the press that nobody had asked him to move out when he was in France fighting in mud and water for his country.
Lena Smith offered the family legal help and urged them to stay as a statement that they would not be intimidated. In 2014 the Arthur and Edith Lee House was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its importance to the history of African Americans and housing discrimination in the city.
The Minneapolis Sound
Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis on June 7, 1958, the son of a jazz singer and a pianist, and went to Bryant Junior High and Central High School in the city. He pioneered the Minneapolis sound, and in 1984 he starred in Purple Rain, a loosely autobiographical film. He played hometown shows at First Avenue and Target Center, and he died in 2016 at Paisley Park, his home and studio in nearby Chanhassen.
City Hall
In 1993 Sharon Sayles Belton was elected mayor, the first African American and the first woman to lead Minneapolis in its 140-year history. She served two terms, from 1994 to 2001.
Black Minneapolis Today
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. The intersection became a memorial, and the stretch of Chicago Avenue is now officially George Perry Floyd Square, visited by thousands of people from around the world. In Cedar-Riverside, Somali families are now the largest minority group, giving the neighborhood the nickname Little Mogadishu. Black-owned restaurants, salons, shops and brands are part of everyday Minneapolis.
Shop Black-owned businesses in Minneapolis on CashBlack.
Photo Credits
The Lena O. Smith House on Fifth Avenue South. Photo: McGhiever, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons Minneapolis City Hall. Photo: Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons