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Ramsey County History 2026 Issue 2

Jeremiah E. Ellis, James Fleming and Paul Nelson, Frank M. White

Volume 61, No. 2 Jeremiah E. Ellis, James Fleming and Paul Nelson, Frank M. White PDF of full issue: Ramsey County History 2026, Issue 2   Articles in this issue: “James and Frances Hughes and the Architecture of Black Excellence in Minnesota” Author: Jeremiah E. Ellis At a…

James and Frances Hughes and the Architecture of Black Excellence in Minnesota

Jeremiah E. Ellis

“The Merit of Service” by Jeremiah E. Ellis To see this complete magazine article with endnotes and additional images, please view the PDF version. My mother once told me about a day in her childhood when a teacher offered to drive her home from school. As they pulled out…

Bridging Continents: The 1964 African Women’s Institute

Jeremiah E. Ellis

View this online sidebar as a PDF. African Women’s Institute at Macalester College, circa 1964. Photo courtesy of the Macalester College archives. Bridging Continents The 1964 African Women’s Institute Jeremiah E. Ellis In the summer of 1964, the Hugheses’ ten-acre enclave in Maplewood became a literal bridge between the…

A Tale of Two Lots: The Smith Family’s Path to Frank Street

Jeremiah E. Ellis

View this online sidebar as a PDF. In 1956, Silas and Roxie Smith began their arduous journey to secure a foothold in Maplewood. The Smiths overcame exclusionary real estate practices and restrictive covenants to build their modern rambler. Their persistence paved the way for four…

Ramsey County History 2026 Issue 1

Paul Nelson and James Fleming, Kate Dietrick, Eula T. Murphy (with David V. Taylor)

Volume 61, No. 1 Paul Nelson and James Fleming, Kate Dietrick, Eula T. Murphy (with David V. Taylor) PDF of full issue: Ramsey County History 2026, Issue 1   Articles in this issue: “Hired to Carry the Dagger: Pierce Butler in St. Paul” Authors: Paul Nelson and James Fleming…

Looking Back at the Black Community

Eula T. Murphy (with David V. Taylor)

“Growing Up in St. Paul” By Eula T. Murphy (with David V. Taylor) To see this complete magazine article with endnotes and additional images, please view the PDF version. Eula T. Murphy in 1961 when she was forty-one years old. The photographs with this article are from the author.

Ramsey County History Fall 2024

John W. Diers, Jim McCartney, Adam Bledsoe

Ramsey County History Fall 2024 Volume 59, No. 4: Fall 2024 John W. Diers, Jim McCartney, Adam Bledsoe Link to download PDF of full Ramsey County History Fall 2024   Articles in this issue: Growing Up on the Empire Builder Author: John W. Diers John W. Diers’…

Communist Clarence Hathaway and His Powerful Impact on Minnesota Politics

Jim McCartney

The Communist Party played an influential role in Farmer-Labor Party politics in the 1930s and early ’40s, thanks, in part, to relationships that Minnesota-born Clarence Hathaway developed with Gov. Floyd B. Olson and Gov. Elmer Benson. Hathaway image in Minneapolis Newspaper Photograph Collection, courtesy of Hennepin County Library; Olson/Benson images…

Clarence Hathaway: Civil Rights Pioneer

Jim McCartney

Although civil rights activists have, at times, been falsely accused of being communist, some Communist Party members, including Clarence Hathaway, did help advance the American civil rights movement. In the 1930s and ’40s, the Communist Party was prominent in the fight for racial equality in the American South, specifically Alabama,…