• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Sunday, May 28, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Opportunities
      • Legals
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Opportunities
      • Legals
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

Researchers dig up history on 35W could use your help

by MSR News Online
August 30, 2020
99
SHARES
2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn
Minnesota Historical Society Interstate 35W cuts a path through South Minneapolis in this photograph from the early 1960s.

“I looked up one morning and they were cutting down trees, which is not something Minneapolis does.” That’s how Walter Foster, who lived on the 4300 block of Second Ave. South, learned that Interstate 35 West was being built in the early 1960s.

 Like many others, he learned about the interstate when he saw bulldozers moving into the neighborhood. Why didn’t people know about this before it happened?

A group of community members and researchers from the University of Minnesota are working on A Public History of 35W. They are looking for people who remember these events. How did neighborhoods along its path change after the freeway was built?

The construction of 35W in South Minneapolis destroyed close to 900 properties over 50 square blocks. Thousands of people lost homes and businesses to eminent domain beginning in 1958.

It took almost 10 years to complete the South Minneapolis leg of the freeway. Communities split apart as people suffered through its long, messy construction. How was such an enormous project planned without those who lived along its path knowing about it? Did Minneapolitans have a say about the building of the freeway and its path through the city? We remember the effect 94 East had in Rondo in Saint Paul. What about the Southside in Minneapolis?

- ADVERTISEMENT -

A Public History of 35W is trying to answer these questions. Research suggests that the freeway permanently changed South Minneapolis and became a racial dividing line.

George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police at the intersection of 38th Street East and Chicago Avenue South, less than 10 blocks from 35W. In between, at 38th Street East and 4th Avenue South, was the heart of an African American community beginning in the 1930s.

Cecil E. Newman began the Minneapolis Spokesman [now the MN Spokesman-Recorder] there in 1934. Anthony B. Cassius opened the Dreamland Café at 3755 4th Avenue South in 1937.

 Local lawmakers Pamela Alexander and LaJune Johnson-Lange were products of Bryant Junior High and Central High School. Both schools closed in the decades following the construction of the freeway, partly casualties to progressive policies that failed to fully consider the impact on the communities they served.

We know little about what it was like to live through the freeway’s construction or about how the arrival of the freeway has affected descendant communities in the area today. How does living alongside a freeway influence people’s health, wealth, and wellbeing? What happened to the people uprooted by 35W?

- ADVERTISEMENT -

 In tracing the violence of systemic racism through A Public History of 35W, we hope to contribute to the conversation that accounts for the brutal gap left by the freeway, and that promotes health, equity, and justice. To do so, we need your help.

How has 35W affected you and your family? Do you have questions you’d like to ask about the  freeways, or a perspective to share?

If you would like to learn more or share your story, please visit our website at 35w.heritage.dash.umn.edu/about or call ‪612-524-8089.

—Information provided by A Public History of 35W.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Black Business Spotlight: Beauty Lounge Minneapolis

Next Post

Become an election judge

MSR News Online

Reach the MSR staff at msrnewsonline@spokesman-recorder.com.

You Might Also Like

Record number of women to serve in the 117th Congress, including at least 51 women of color
National

Record number of women to serve in the 117th Congress, including at least 51 women of color

2020 Election
Opinion

The presidential race might be too close to call, but the ‘projected winner is racism’

People are there to help if there’s trouble at the polls
National

People are there to help if there’s trouble at the polls

Vote as if our children’s lives depend on it
Featured

Vote as if our children’s lives depend on it

Some young Blacks are disillusioned with voting but Trump-supporting rappers represent very few
National

Some young Blacks are disillusioned with voting but Trump-supporting rappers represent very few

Two new early vote centers open in Minneapolis
Local

Two new early vote centers open in Minneapolis

Next Post
Researchers dig up history on 35W could use your help

Become an election judge

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

The Latest News

Community remembers, looks forward three years after George Floyd’s police killing

Community remembers, looks forward three years after George Floyd’s police killing

In history-making selection, Biden picks Gen. Charles ‘CQ’ Brown, Jr. as chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff

In history-making selection, Biden picks Gen. Charles ‘CQ’ Brown, Jr. as chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff

Black-owned farmers market in full swing this spring

Black-owned farmers market in full swing this spring

Honoring Black Americans’ role in the inception of Memorial Day

Honoring Black Americans’ role in the inception of Memorial Day

Saints pitcher Woods Richardson keeps on trying

Saints pitcher Woods Richardson keeps on trying

Black Business Spotlight: West Indies Soul Food

Black Business Spotlight: West Indies Soul Food

Minneapolis
◉
75°
Sunny
5:31 am8:48 pm CDT
MonTueWedThuFri
86/66°F
84/66°F
88/66°F
86/68°F
90/66°F
Weather forecast Minneapolis, Minnesota ▸
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Apr 1
April 1 @ 7:30 pm-May 29 @ 9:00 pm Recurring

Wit by Margaret Edson

Apr 14
April 14 @ 9:00 am-August 12 @ 5:00 pm

Paper Is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures

May 29
10:00 am-4:00 pm Recurring

Preserving Nature Photos by Walter Griffin: REFLECTIONS

May 29
10:30 am-4:00 pm

Memorial Day Community Celebration at Lakewood Cemetery

View Calendar

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...