Black History Tour

This tour takes an in depth view of just seven African American Minnesotans who have influenced our state, from early settlers to more contemporary heroes. Read the blurbs in the mobile app, or click “web” to read the full articles.

1) Lena Olive Smith (8/13/1885 – 11/06/1996)

Location: Section 22, Lot 341B, Grave 4

Blurb for App: Born in 1885, Lena Olive Smith was the first African American woman lawyer in the state of Minnesota. She worked tirelessly for civil rights, helping integrate neighborhoods and end segregation at local businesses. She helped found the Minneapolis Urban League in 1925, and served as the Minneapolis NAACP’s first woman president. Click the “web” button above to see photos and read more about Lena O. Smith.

Lena O. Smith (source: Minnesota Historical Society)

Full Article: Lena Olive Smith was the first African American woman lawyer in the state of Minnesota. After graduating from law school in 1921, she used the courts and other activist strategies to fight tirelessly for civil rights, maintaining her legal practice until her death in 1966.

Lena O. Smith was born in 1885. She grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, and moved with her father to the largely African American town of Buxton, Iowa at the age of 20 to secure better work for her family. After her father passed away the following year, the Smiths moved to Minneapolis, where Lena began training for many careers. She instructed drama, went to embalming school, opened a salon, and worked as a realtor all before becoming a lawyer. It was unusual for an African American citizen to work in realty at this time, as home sales and restrictive covenants were often used to enforce racism and segregation in the North. In fact, it was the discriminatory practices Smith witnessed as a realtor that drove her to take night classes at Northwestern School of Law (now William Mitchell College of Law).

Smith was 35 when she graduated from law school, and immediately went to work on civil rights cases. She filed her first suit 11 days after graduating, suing a white property owner for refusing to sell a home to an aging black couple after they had made adequate payments. Years later, she famously defended a black WWI veteran Arthur Lee and his family after they moved into a previously all-white Minneapolis neighborhood; a mob of nearly 4,000 gathered outside their house to oppose this integration, but Smith’s work enabled them to keep their home. In addition, she successfully sued for equal public accommodations and integration at local businesses, and defended African American residents who had been victims of police and civilian violence. She was widely recognized as one of the area’s best attorneys, laying the legal foundation for the civil rights movement in Minnesota.

Smith used more than just the courts to pursue civil rights. She helped found the Minneapolis chapter of the Urban League in 1925, served as the first woman president of the Minneapolis NAACP, and expertly maneuvered politics and the press to ensure the work she fought for in the courts stuck. She was a close ally of Floyd B. Olson (also buried at Lakewood), advocated for mass protest, spoke at rallies, and gave lectures about racial discrimination across the city. She worked into old age, and was invited to the Lyndon B. Johnson / inauguration in 1965. Smith passed away in 1966.

2) Mary Jackson Ellis (3/21/1916 – 3/03/1975)

Location: Section 60, Lot 652, Grave 2

Blurb for App: Mary Jackson Ellis is largely considered the first full-time African American elementary school teacher in Minneapolis. She had a long and influential teaching career, publishing many children’s books and teaching aids that are still available today. Click the “web” button above to see photos and read more about Mary Jackson Ellis.

Mary Jackson Ellis (source: Jet Magazine, 1955)

Full Article: Mary Jackson Ellis is largely considered the first full-time African American elementary school teacher in Minneapolis. Born in 1916, she was hired by the district at the age of 31 in 1947. But her appointment was not without controversy, and the story goes that she received significant support from two leaders who are now buried at Lakewood: Cecil Newman (featured in this tour) and Hubert H. Humphrey.

Ellis was initially denied a position as a classroom teacher due to her race. When Cecil Newman, owner of the influential Black newspaper the Minnesota Spokesman- Recorder, heard of this discrimination he immediately called then-mayor Hubert H. Humphrey, a well-known advocate for civil rights. Together they went to the superintendent’s office and told him that Ellis would speak to the press about the discrimination she faced in the school system if she was not allowed to teach. The efforts of Ellis, Newman, and Humphrey were successful, and Ellis was hired.

Ellis went on to have a very influential career in teaching. In addition to her work in the classroom, Ellis published multiple children’s books and teaching aids that are still available today. The Hale School, where she instructed, grants the Mary Jackson Ellis award to outstanding fourth-grade students every year. Mary Jackson Ellis passed away in 1975.

3) Dr. Robert S. Brown (?/?/1863 – 4/04/1927)

Location: Section 19, Lot 324, Grave 1

Blurb for App: Dr. Robert Sirelle Brown was the first African American physician in Minneapolis. Dr. Brown was part of the Twin Cities’ early African American professional class, taking patients seven days a week at his downtown office. He gave lectures around the Twin Cities, and was very involved in the African American business and social community until his death in 1927. Click the “web” button above to see photos and read more about Dr. Robert S. Brown.

Dr. Robert S. Brown (source: Minnesota Historical Society)

Full Article: Dr. Robert Sirelle Brown was the first African American physician licensed to practice in Minneapolis. Born in Staunton, Virginia in 1863, Brown studied at the racially integrated Bennett Medical College in Chicago, now part of Loyola University. Upon his graduation in 1895, brown practiced in Oskaloosa, Iowa before moving to Minneapolis in 1889.

Brown was part of the Twin Cities’ early African American professional and business class. By the mid 1880s, members of the burgeoning Twin Cities Black Press were seeking to reverse a severe drought of African American professionals in the Twin Cities, and ran ads in Black-owned newspapers across the country to promote the residential and employment potential of the Twin Cities. It is speculated that Robert S. Brown was among those recruited, and he quickly rose to prominence within the Black community, with residential addresses listed overtime on Minneapolis’s thriving Portland Avenue and on East 14th street near downtown.

Though never receiving much regard in the white and mainstream press, Robert S. Brown worked tirelessly, taking patients every day of the week at his downtown office. He gave lectures around the Twin Cities, was very involved in the African American business and social community. In 1921 he was elected president of the Minneapolis NAACP. The Appeal, a prominent Black newspaper out of St. Paul, followed the details of his life carefully, publishing updates about his work, the parties he and his wife attended, the food items they brought, and their attire. Brown raised seven children, with one of his sons going on to become a physician. A member of the Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias, and a Mason, Brown was an influential member of Twin Cities society until his death in 1927.

4) Dr. B. Robert Lewis (11/02/1931 – 4/27/1979)

Location: Section 24, Lot 258A, Grave 2

Blurb for App: Dr. B. Robert Lewis was Minnesota’s first African American senator. He was also a member of the St. Louis Park School Board, a veteran of the Korean War, and worked as a veterinarian even while serving in office. Click the “web” button above to see photos and read more about Dr. B. Robert Lewis.

Senator B. Robert Lewis (source: Minnesota Historical Society)

Full Article: Dr. B. Robert Lewis was a veterinarian, a Korean War veteran, a member of the St. Louis Park School Board, and Minnesota’s first African American Senator.

Lewis was born in 1931 in Hutchinson, Kansas, a salt mining town about an hour outside of Wichita. He studied animal husbandry at Kansas State University in Wichita, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in 1953. After serving in the Korean War from 1953 to 1955, he continued his education, earning another B.S. in Biological Science in 1958 and a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 1960. He worked as a veterinarian in Wichita for two years before moving to St. Louis Park.

Upon his 1962 arrival in St. Louis Park, Lewis did not receive a warm welcome. He was one of only 26 Black residents in the suburb at the time, and was initially refused lease or purchase of a crumbling animal hospital nearby. One neighbor even circulated a petition against Lewis’s residency in the neighborhood, though the petition received only one signature. When Lewis was eventually granted access to the veterinary hospital, he fixed it up and began a successful practice. By 1966, he was such an integral part of the neighborhood that he was elected to the St. Louis Park School Board, becoming the first African American School Board member in the Twin Cities. He was appointed to the State Board of Education in 1971.

A member of the DFL party, Lewis was elected to the state senate in 1973 to represent St. Louis Park and portion of Golden Valley. He was a distinguished senator, serving on the Finance, Transportation, and Health, Welfare, and Corrections committees. He co- authored and sponsored legislation to aid victims of domestic abuse, and to provide assistance to families with loved ones in nursing homes. He also served on the board of the Minneapolis Urban League, was a founding member of the St. Louis Park Human Relations Council, and was president of the Metropolitan Animal Hospital Association. While serving as senator, he still maintained his practice and passion for veterinary medicine, operating two animal clinics at the time of his death.

Dr. B. Robert Lewis died of a heart attack while still in office in 1979, at the young age of 47. His legacy lives on as the namesake of the Lewis House for victims of domestic abuse, the ’s Lewis Hospital for Companion Animals (the first U of M facility to be named after an African American citizen), and the B. Robert Lewis Public Health Award, which has been given to such prominent politicians as , Skip Humphrey, and Paul Wellstone.

5) Cecil Earl Newman (7/27/1903 – 2/07/1976)

Location: Community Mausoleum, Room 218, Tier 4, Crypt D

Blurb for App: Cecil Earl Newman was the founder of one of Minnesota’s most prominent African American Newspapers, the Spokesman Recorder. He belonged to more than 40 professional and civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the Minneapolis Urban League, and served as the first African American member of the Minnesota Press Club. He was active until his death in 1976, and his paper continues its circulation today. Click the “web” button above to see photos and read more about Cecil Newman.

Cecil Newman (source: Minnesota Historical Society)

Full Article: Born in 1903, Cecil Newman was the founder of one of Minnesota’s most prominent African American Newspapers, the Spokesman Recorder. He belonged to more than 40 professional and civil rights groups, including the NAACP and the Minneapolis Urban League, and served as the first African American member of the Minnesota Press Club. He used the power of the press, as well as engagement with local politics, to advance civil rights in the Twin Cities.

Newman was born in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was a neighbor of future poet Langston Hughes. With his parents’ encouragement, Newman developed a passion for journalism early, working in the back office of a Black-owned newspaper while in high school, and submitting content about bias in employment. He moved to Minneapolis shortly after high school, where he contributed to the local Black Press and founded his own newspaper and magazine. Though many media outlets struggled through the Great Depression, Newman was rightfully convinced that African Americans Minnesotans could sustain their own media network even in difficult economic times. Amidst the Depression, Newman was able to quit his job as a porter to focus on journalism, and in 1934 founded the enormously successful Minnesota Spokesman Recorder, which still operates today.

The Spokesman Recorder took a firm stance in support of civil rights. Newman himself worked closely with politicians like Hubert Humphrey, and the Recorder’s editorials were used to keep politicians accountable, advance the causes of integration, and promote demonstration against local businesses practicing discrimination.

Newman worked actively until his death in 1976. Newman’s legacy lives on in the continued weekly publication of the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder, and as the namesake of Cecil Newman Plaza in North Minneapolis, the Cecil E. Newman Scholarship for African American college attendance, and Cecil Newman Lane in South Minneapolis.

6) Emily O. Goodridge Grey (1832 – 1/16/1916) and Ralph Toyer Grey (1830 – 12/04/1904)

The hotel in St. Anthony where the Greys lived and worked (on left) (Source: Minnesota Historical Society)

Location: Section 12, Lot 531, Graves 3 and 4

Blurb for App: Emily O. Goodridge Grey and Ralph Toyer Grey were early pioneers in the Territory of Minnesota, and members of the burgeoning African American frontier community. They were also abolitionists, working with other St. Anthony residents to fight slavery in the United States. Ralpy and Emily were not buried with stones (not uncommon for burials at this time), but two of their children were given stones, as is visible here. Ralph and Emily Grey are buried in the spaces alongside their children. Click the “web” button above to see photos and read more about Emily and Ralph Grey.

Full Article: Emily O. Goodridge Grey and Ralph Toyer Grey were early pioneers in the Territory of Minnesota, and members of the burgeoning African American frontier community. They were also abolitionists, working with other St. Anthony residents to abolish slavery.

Emily O. Goodridge Grey was born in 1834 in York, Pennsylvania. Her father was freed from enslavement in 1821, and became a successful businessperson and an active participant in the Underground Railroad efforts. Emily Grey was the first of her family to move westward, leaving for the frontier city of St. Anthony (now Northeast Minneapolis) in 1857. Her husband Ralph Toyer Grey, born 1830, had moved to St. Anthony two years prior.

The Greys’ move was not unprecedented, and they joined a small but growing group of African Americans on the Minnesota frontier. Like 94% of Minnesota Black population at the time, the Greys were literate, and they became highly involved in social and political life.

The Greys were abolitionists. Ralph Grey was a personal friend of Frederick Douglass, hosting him in their home when Douglass visited Minnesota in 1873. He was personally selected to read the Emancipation Proclamation at a local convention. In 1960, Emily and Ralph worked with local judges, friends, and abolitionists to free Eliza Winston, an enslaved women who had been brought to Minnesota by her owner from Mississippi. Many white residents of St. Anthony were outraged with the court’s decision, but the Greys found support among their neighbors, black and white alike.

Though the white press did not speak much of the Greys, details of their lives were widely discussed in the Black newspaper “The St. Paul Appeal.” Alongside their social and political prominence, Emily and Ralph Grey raised four children, including a son who is widely said to be the first African American child born in St. Anthony. Two of their children died quite young, and were buried with plaques at Lakewood. Ralph Grey passed away in 1904, and Emily Grey passed away in 1916, long after her husband and children had all passed on. Emily and Ralph Grey are buried alongside their children.

7) Bobby Marshall (3/12/1880 – 8/30/1958)

Location: Section 15, Lot 423, Grave 1

Blurb for App: Bobby Marshall was a multi-sport athlete, lawyer, and father of four. He was the first African American football player to play in the Big 9 (now Big 10), the first African American high school football coach in Minneapolis, and the first African American head coach in collegiate football. During his 20+ year career, he also played in the National Football League, and was a standout player for multiple Twin Cities and Midwest Black baseball teams. Click the “web” button above to see photos and read more about Bobby Marshall.

Bobby Marshall (source: National Football Foundation)

Full Article: Bobby Marshall was a pioneering African American athlete. He was the first African American football player to play in the Big 9 (now Big 10), the first African American high school football coach in Minneapolis, and the first African American lead coach in collegiate football. During his 20+ year career, he also played in the National Football League, and was a standout player for multiple Twin Cities and Midwest Black baseball teams.

Marshall was born in 1880. He loved sports from an early age, developing skills at neighborhood parks. While attending Minneapolis’ Central High School, Marshall played football, baseball, hockey, and tennis. Here he was noticed by coaches at the U of M, and played in the Minnesota Gophers’ starting line as a college freshman in 1903. He also excelled in baseball, and developed a routine playing and touring with local Black baseball teams during the summer and returning to college football in the fall. This practice eventually brought him up to the semi-pro and professional baseball Negro Leagues, the National Football League, and even briefly to a semi-pro hockey team, where he was the first African American player in 1909.

Throughout his career, Marshall often faced discrimination on the field, where his talent and smart mode of play was often seen as threatening. Many coaches accused him of “playing dirty,” but those who watched Marshall closely repeatedly found him to be a “gentleman” on the field. In fact, Marshall was often on the receiving end of dirty behavior and violence, even after plays were over.

Perhaps it was this discrimination that led Marshall to pursue goals beyond athletics. He excelled as a law student, and balanced both a legal and an athletic career shortly after graduating from college. Even after he shifted his focus from legal practice to athletics, he served as a mentor by giving lectures about athleticism and sportsmanship to African American youth. He also coached at his former high school, making him the first African American coach at in Minneapolis, and became the first full-time African American head coach at the collegiate level when he took a position training at all white team at Parker College in Winnebago, Minnesota.

Marshall was nearly a household name in the early 1900s. But after his career, racial prejudices kept his story in the shadows. At the time of his death in 1958, very few media outlets mentioned his enormous successes. Finally, in 1971, Marshall was entered into the National Football Foundation’s Hall of Fame, and many recent sports writers have called him one of Minnesota’s all-time best athletes. Marshall died at age 78.

Author: Katie Thornton, 2016