In popular culture, Minnesota bring up images of hotdish, "Minnesota Nice," and white immigrant communities. While these are certainly part of the story, Minnesota has a rich history of racial diversity, beginning with the indigenous Chippewa, Ojibwe and Dakota communities and including more recent arrivals of Hmong, Somali and Mexican immigrants. Minnesota has also been home to a small but vibrant African American population. "Minnesota Nice" has not made us exempt from racism, and has a history of racism that stretches back for centuries. We compiled this guide to help you further explore the people who make up Minnesota and the issues they face. Be sure to search the catalog to find additional resources and please reach out to a librarian if you have any research questions related to this topic.
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While these resources cover the entire geographic area of the United States, you can still find information related to Minnesota within these resources.
These FBI files provide detailed information on the evolution of AIM as an organization of social protest and the development of Native American radicalism. Covers 1968-1979.
A curated selection of primary sources on African American history and movements against racial injustice. Sources include legislation, legal cases, and documents about leaders and organizations. The collection is organized into six areas: Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement (1790-1860); The Civil War and the Reconstruction Era (1861-1877); Jim Crow Era from 1878 to the Great Depression (1878-1932); The New Deal and World War II (1933-1945); The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements (1946-1975); The Contemporary Era (1976-2000)
This primary source collection covers African American history and experience as recorded by the news media. Sources include a variety of American and global news sources, including current and historical Black publications. NOTE: The library subscribes to Series 3 (1976-current).
This collection of FBI files provides source materials for major social movements and key figures in early twentieth century black history and it provides a window into the development of America’s first systematic domestic surveillance programs.
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0