"African Americans have had a profound influence on the history and culture of Minnesota from its earliest days to the present. Author David V. Taylor chronicles this rich story, using first-person accounts, newspaper articles, and a careful analysis of census records. During the territorial and early statehood periods, blacks developed communities in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth, as well as rural areas, and established churches, businesses, and social organizations. Taylor recounts the triumphs and struggles of African Americans over the last two hundred years in a clear and concise narrative. He also introduces influential and notable people including fur trader George Bonga, newspaper editors John Quincy Adams and Cecil Newman, lawyer Fredrick L. McGhee, social workers Gertrude Brown and I. Myrtle Carden, labor activist Nellie Stone Johnson, inventor Frederick McKinley Jones, and artists August Wilson, Lou Bellamy, and Prince."--Jacket.