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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,…

Rise to the Challenge: A Memoir of Politics, Leadership, and Love

Reviewed by Anne Cowie

Rise to the Challenge: A Memoir of Politics, Leadership, and Love Marlene M. Johnson Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2024 248 pages; cloth/jacket, 15 b&w plates, $24.95   Marlene Johnson came to leadership early. When she was just thirty-seven, she became Minnesota’s first woman lieutenant governor, assuming that position…

March of the Governors: Jesse Ventura

Paul Nelson, Matt Wright, and Ken Peterson

To call our thirty-eighth governor, Jesse Ventura, unique is to engage in understatement. He was Minnesota’s first third-party governor since Elmer Benson in 1936. Though he ran on the Reform Party ticket, that party elected no one else, so he had no allies in the legislature. His plurality, 37% of…

Ramsey County History Summer 2023

Kristina Her, John H. Guthmann, Heidi Heller, John Lindley, Dave Beal, Lowell Benson, Don Hall, Jay Pfaender, and Chad Roberts

Volume 58, Number 2: Summer 2023 Link to download PDF of RCHS Summer 2023 Magazine Articles in this Issue: Hmong Foodways in Ramsey County Author: Kristina Her Growing Up at Fort Snelling: Honoring the First Regiment of…

Ramsey County History Summer 2023 – Roller Skating

Heidi Heller

Volume 58, Number 2: Summer 2023 Rolling through the Decades Roller Skating in Ramsey County Author: Heidi Heller What better way to spend a Saturday night than rolling ‘round and ‘round a skate floor with friends? Some will remember the disco era, complete with a sparkly, mirrored ball and…

March of the Governors #30: Special Edition Billy Williams

Frank White, Paul Nelson

March of the Governors Special Edition: Billy Williams March of the Governors Series Podcast #30 William F. (Billy) Williams never served as Minnesota’s governor, but he served more Minnesota governors than any public servant in our state’s history. He caught the eye of…

Ramsey County History Spring 2023

Frank M. White, Matt Goff, Johannes R. Allert

Volume 58, Number 1: Spring 2023 Link to download PDF of RCHS Spring 2023 Magazine Articles in this Issue: From a Star on the Baseball Diamond to a Star at the Minnesota State Capitol: Billy Williams Author: Frank M. White A Slow…

Ramsey County History Spring 2023 – Billy Williams – Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums 2024 History Award Winner

Frank White

Volume 58, Number 1: Spring 2023 From a Star on the Ball Diamond to a Star at the Minnesota State Capitol Billy Williams Author: Frank M. White Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums 2024 History Award Winner In 1904, Billy Williams would have been happy making…

History Revealed: Call Him Jack

Yohuru Williams and Michael Long

Call Him Jack: The Story of Jackie Robinson, Black Freedom Fighter A Conversation with Authors Yohuru Williams and Michael Long History Revealed Series Program Date: Thursday, February 23, 2023, 7:00 pm Video on YouTube In partnership with the East Side Freedom Library &…