The legacy of Black struggle at the University was the topic of the Feb. 24 Black History Month faculty and student event
By Katie Wermus
As a part of Black History Month, several groups at the University of Minnesota hosted a virtual panel on Feb. 24 to discuss This Free North, a documentary describing the history of Black struggle on the Twin Cities Campus.
The 30-minute documentary, which was produced by Twin Cities Public Television and the University in 2020, covers the racial history of the Twin Cities campus from the 1850s through the 1970s – decades that moved from the insidiousness of powerful slave-wage endowments to protests that demanded a voice for Black students and faculty.
“It’s a rich and complex story that needs to be told. It opens up a wide array of questions that have yet to be answered,” said Dr. John S. Wright, a panelist and a professor of African American Studies and English at the University.
In 1856, the University was on the verge of officially closing its doors due to financial strain. William Aiken Jr., a plantation owner from South Carolina, loaned the University of Minnesota $15,000, an equivalent of a quarter of a million dollars today. Aiken also served as governor of South Carolina from 1844-46, and was a U.S. congressman at the time of the loan.
“Aiken was one of the largest slaveholders in the country. He owned more than 800 slaves in South Carolina,” Wright said. “The Black presence at the University has been there since its beginning years, if only as disembodied labor.”
Wright was joined on the panel by Devon Cornell, a University of Minnesota alum with a bachelor’s degree in African American and African Studies, along with third-year students Samiat Ajibola, president of the Black student Union and liaison of the African Student Association, and Mohamed Elmi, president of the Somali Student Association.
The documentary showed that many prominent Black activists came to speak on campus such as Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. DuBois and Dr. Martin Luther King. The University would not allow Black students to stay on campus and hotels were segregated, so those guests were lodged at the Phyllis Wheatley House.
Racial disparities and segregation at the University continued well into the 1960s. There were no courses on African American culture, limited Black faculty, and a lack of support for Black students.
In January 1969, about 70 Black students with allies took over Morrill Hall to protest the institutional racism at the University. Students had a list of seven demands, including the establishment of scholarships for Black Minnesota high school graduates, an African American studies program, and counseling and recruitment offices for Black students.
The demonstrations lasted 24 hours and resulted in the creation of the University’s African American and African Studies department, one of the first in the nation. The passion of that protest is still seen in groups around campus today, the panelists noted. The documentary is a reminder of the legacy of student activism that is ongoing today through student groups, the panelists said.
“Especially in the past year, student groups have been more involved in activism,” Elmi said. “Student groups are also doing a good job working with school administration and student government to promote what they believe will do well for students on campus.”
Ajibola pointed out that student activist groups have also turned into a safe space for students “where even though this is a predominantly white institution, that you’re able to see people who look like you and think like you.”
“Personally I feel like a lot of the fights we’re fighting currently have been fought by people who came before us,” Ajibola said. “And this is just a continuation of their legacy.”