Sixty-five years ago today, Rosa Parks made history and helped spark the Civil Rights Movement.
Special Editions
Each year the MSR recognizes and celebrates MLK Jr. Day, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Juneteenth and Black Music Month. In this space, find stories pertaining to each special edition as categorized.
Posted inBlack History Month, Special Editions, Sports
Legendary referee reflects on triumphs and trials as local history-maker
Jim Robinson for many years was among the few Black officials who regularly worked boys’ basketball games in the area.
Posted inBlack History Month, Opinion
John Lewis’ contribution to U.S. democracy should not be forgotten
When John Lewis left us, editorials and columns paid tribute to his leadership, his courage, and his moral example. The praise was well deserved.
Posted inBlack History Month, Featured, Sports
What was lost with the Negro Leagues
During the half-century that baseball was divided by a color line, Black America created a sporting world of its own.
Posted inBlack History Month, Featured
Black history interwoven with suffrage centennial
The passage of the 19th Amendment was won after a 72-year long struggle led by a number of prominent women, including one Harriet Tubman (1822 – 1913).
Posted inBlack History Month
Black History Month Events: Feb. 26-29
Each week this month, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder editors will share their top picks for free or low-cost events celebrating Black History Month.
Posted inBlack History Month, Featured, Sports
U of M Gopher football sports some ugly racial history – Part 2
This story looks back at a time when racism was even more flagrant, leading to the death of an Iowa State Black student-athlete Jack Trice.
Posted inArts + Culture, Black History Month, Featured
Black History Month Events: Feb. 14-21
Each week this month, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder editors will share their top picks for free or low-cost events celebrating Black History Month.
Posted inBlack History Month
How Black pastors resisted Jim Crow and White pastors incited racial violence
Religion was no barrier for Southern lynch mobs intent on terror. White pastors joined the KKK, incited racial violence and took part in lynchings. Sometimes, the victim was a preacher.
Posted inBlack History Month, Gophers/College, Sports
U of M Gopher football sports some ugly racial history
Our community needs to know the tragic history of Ozzie Simmons.
Posted inBlack History Month, Opinion
Mammy and how racist stereotypes impact Black women
Niceness can be a form of manipulation, creating a racial dynamic where people of color are required to maintain White comfort to survive.
Posted inBlack History Month, Featured, News
The Black fight for the franchise
It’s been 150 years since the 15th Amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870, giving Black people access to the ballot.
Posted inBlack History Month, Featured
Black History Month Events: Feb. 6-14
Find the editors’ picks of this week’s Black History Month events.
Posted inFeatured, MLK Legacy Section
Black Americans mostly left behind by progress since Dr. King’s death
On Apr. 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, while assisting striking sanitation workers. Back then, over a half-century ago, the wholesale racial integration required by the 1964 Civil Rights Act was just beginning to chip away at discrimination in education, jobs and public facilities. Black voters had only obtained […]
Posted inFeatured, MLK Legacy Section
Stevie Wonder’s 1981 call for an MLK holiday
Read Stevie Wonder’s speech on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. January 15, 1981, at the rally calling for an MLK holiday.
Posted inFeatured, MLK Legacy Section, Opinion, Special Editions
Dr. King’s legacy requires us to continue the fight for justice
Honoring Dr. King’s legacy in the 21st Century means rigorously interrogating the U.S. criminal justice system and refusing to accept the high rate of incarceration among African Americans.
Posted inMLK Legacy Section, Opinion
Not as much as we would like has changed since the murder of MLK
The U.S. is a very different place than it was in 1968. Or is it?
Posted inMLK Legacy Section, News
No King holiday without Wonder
It has been 40 years since Stevie Wonder penned the up-tempo riff of the ‘Happy Birthday’ song that created a groundswell of support for a MLK Holiday.
Posted inMLK Legacy Section
Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr: ‘Transforming a neighborhood into a brotherhood’
‘ We suffer from a kind of poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. ‘
Posted inArts + Culture, MLK Legacy Section
The tour that helped create the MLK holiday
Gil Scott-Heron relates his experience with Stevie Wonder on his 1981 ‘Hotter Than July’ tour in which Wonder advocated and organized for the MLK Holiday.