North Star Journey

An initiative in St. Paul is connecting and celebrating two of its largest minority populations, Hmong and Black. Aptly named “FRONDO,” the initiative is bringing together the Frogtown neighborhood which has a large Hmong population and the historically Black Rondo neighborhood in a way that’s never been done before. May Lee-Yang and Nicole M. Smith are the organizers behind the project. Lee-Yang...

It was a Friday night in 1964, recalls Greg McMoore. A line of men stretched out the Young Brothers barbershop on Fourth Avenue in south Minneapolis. McMoore was just a kid then, but he could tell they were there for more than just haircuts. He remembers seeing a group head to the backroom and begging his father to let him sneak a glimpse.  “It was all in fun,” he reminisced with a laugh. “They we...

For immigrants to America, so much is new. New culture, new language, new systems, new opportunities. The learning curve is steep. But eventually, someone pushes through to a new level and becomes the first in their community to achieve a goal. Maybe they become the first in their family to graduate from college, or the first to start a small business. Maybe they are the first to purchase farmland...

The St. Paul and Minneapolis Audubon chapters have dropped the contentious naturalist’s namesake from their titles, rebranding their organizations as the St. Paul Bird Alliance and Land of Lakes Bird Alliance, respectively. It follows an evolving, countrywide trend after the National Audubon Society leadership voted down removing the association with John James Audubon from its name last year . Bo...

One of the greatest gifts you can give any leader is the time and money to become even more effective at the change they want to make in the world. That idea is at the heart of the Bush Fellowship . Every year, up to 30 people across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and in 23 Native nations receive this prestigious fellowship from the Bush Foundation, along with grants of up to $150,000 to pu...

What happens to us when we’re very young children can set us up for life. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the CEO of the nonprofit Way to Grow about what we can do to nurture kids’ development.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Tonya Allen, the president of the McKnight Foundation. The Minnesota-based family foundation grants approximately $100 million dollars every year and is focused on advancing climate action and racial equity — two deeply connected issues. Find out what’s driving the foundation’s priorities, how Allen shifted from working on education policy to climate change an...

Carla Vernón didn’t think she’d go into business. She was inspired to do good in the world by a father who emigrated from Panama to become a college math professor and by her mother who was one of the real-life “Hidden Figures,” the Black women mathematicians who helped develop the U.S. space program. After studying ecology and biology at Princeton, she worked for a nature conservation nonprofit o...

Bernadette Anderson — a community leader, an outspoken advocate for African American civil rights in Minnesota, and a tough-love mother to many northside youth — was honored Friday afternoon with a renamed street in north Minneapolis. Bernadette Anderson Way now runs along Russell Avenue North between Plymouth Avenue North and 12th Avenue North. Anderson, who died in 2003, lived in the 1200 block...

In August 1934, Cecil E. Newman founded the Minneapolis Spokesman in the midst of the Great Depression and 30 years before the Civil Rights Act. A few years later, he founded a second newspaper called the St. Paul Recorder. He used his role as a newspaper publisher to fight racial discrimination and earned the attention of every major politician, including Hubert H. Humphrey. The two papers merged...

Join Angela Davis at the Minnesota State Fair for a North Star Journey Live recording to celebrate the music, the man and the mischief of James “Cornbread” Harris. Cornbread is now 97 years old, which means he’s been playing his beloved piano at gigs all over the Twin Cities for more than 70 years. Music journalist Andrea Swensson recently released a book chronicling Cornbread’s remarkable life. “...

A group of teens cuts cardboard with X-ACTO Knives. They will soon shape this cardboard into architectural models of their bedrooms. Behind them in a classroom at the Dunwoody College of Technology, large windows frame the Minneapolis cityscape — a sampling of building types through the ages, from the early 20th-century Basilica of St. Mary to the IDS skyscraper built in 1973. “It’s my first time...

Community activist Harry “Spike” Moss, 78, and Plymouth Avenue North share a historic connection in the struggle for civil rights of African Americans in Minneapolis.  When Plymouth Avenue erupted in turmoil in the late 1960s , Moss was there to decry the racial oppression and discrimination that sparked the flames. Moss was also heavily involved with The Way and an alternative school called The C...

After two years of drought-dried fields, Minnesota farmers are facing the opposite problem — extremely soggy soil and flooding following several inches of rainfall that washed out roads and continue to push up river levels this week. “All I’ll say is uffdah,” Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen said. “A lot of the crop in Minnesota didn’t get planted [yet]. We’ll get some of the final...

V3 Sports will hold its grand opening on Saturday. The aquatics and recreation center is one of the largest private investments ever in north Minneapolis at $126 million. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke to the executive director of V3 Sports, Malik Rucker, and Ayanna Rakhu, who planned all of the swimming programming.

In many ways, Lee Hawkins’ childhood in Maplewood was typical for families in the 1980s. He rode bikes, spent hours exploring the landscape, played rudimentary video football games. He and his sisters were raised by two loving parents and spent hours at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church each week. But in other ways, Hawkins’ experience was unique. His family was Black in a mostly white suburb, part of the...

Some people call Juneteenth our nation’s second Independence Day.   It marks the date on June 19, 1865, when enslaved Black Americans in Texas finally learned of their freedom, after the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation.   The day became a federal holiday in 2021, but Americans are still grappling with how to commemorate it.   MPR News guest host Nina Moini talks with Kevin Lindsey, CEO of...

“Romeo and Juliet” has been reimagined countless times. The musical “West Side Story” relocated the tale to blue-collar Manhattan, while director Baz Luhrmann colorfully stylized and modernized the play in his 1996 film “Romeo + Juliet.” Twin Cities theater company Teatro del Pueblo ’s adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” goes beyond changing the location and period.   Called “Romeo and Juliet: Love i...

Tuesdays and Fridays are special days for a small group of students from Lac qui Parle Valley Schools near Milan. That’s when the Milan Kids Club is in session at the former Milan Public School building. Rosalia Iowanes and Justleen Ponun, two teens employed by the program, have set up the volleyball net in the gym. Some students play barefoot. The sport is immensely popular in the Micronesian com...

It’s Monday night at the National Guard Armory in northeast Minneapolis, which means it’s time for Hmong Cornhole. A few dozen folks throw little bean bags into holes in rows of glossy wooden boards. They chat and fist bump and update scores on digital tablets. Kids occasionally run weaving through the boards, sometimes squirreling away bags from their parents. This definitely has strengthened our...

Journalist Lee Hawkins grew up in Maplewood, Minn., but Alabama has always haunted his family. In a new podcast, Hawkins uncovers his family history, his father’s painful nightmares and the long-lasting impacts of Jim Crow far beyond segregation. What Happened in Alabama? is a long-form limited series podcast about the intergenerational ripple effect of slavery and his efforts to heal. MPR News ho...

Mother’s Day celebrates a special human bond. Food plays an integral role in most mother-child relationships, especially in the very first days after birth as a mother recovers.  Cultures around the world celebrate this special time in different ways. This Mother’s Day, we explore how three cultures focus on the mother during postpartum recovery and how their foods reflect wisdom and lessons passe...

The Minneapolis American Indian Center's two-year renovation is now complete. The redesign reflects both a sense of belonging and history and showcases ways the Minneapolis Indigenous community embraces its future.  The happy chatter of excited visitors filled a large rotunda inside the center as executive director Mary LaGarde walked through the crowd to greet guests at a soft opening held last T...

At a dance studio in Minneapolis recently, Leila Awadallah reflected on what Mizna means to her.  “When I found Mizna, that’s when I unlocked this portal into this beautiful world of Arab Americans and of stories from countries that I longed to know deeper,” Awadallah said.  The choreographer and dancer is half white, half Palestinian and grew up in South Dakota.  She’s one of the many artists who...