Minneapolis Interview Project

Life stories through a social justice lens

Labor, Unions, Working-Class

On this page you will find posts about labor, union organizing, working, and the working class. Look here for discussion of unemployment, job creation, worker centers, particular unions, the MN AFL-CIO and labor history in Minneapolis. The Trucker’s Strike of 1934, CTUL, Teacher’s Strikes, Industrial Workers of the World.

Brenna Dep

Youth Worker Learns Liberating Power of a Poem

Sherry Quan Lee

Black/ Asian Writer Grapples with Identity, Dares to Nurture Untold Stories

Mel Reeves (1957-2022)

Long-Time Organizer Against Police Brutality, Fights the Power

Louis Alemayehu

The Making of A Multicultural Spiritual Elder.

David Tilsen

Minneapolis Activist Continues Generations of Progressive Leadership

Bruce Drewlow

Northern Minnesota to North Minneapolis; the Education of an Educator.

R. Vincent Moniz Jr.

Indigenous Poet on Growing Up "Urban Indian" in Phillips Neighborhood.

Elizabeth Tannen

NYC Poet Finds Community in Minneapolis Police Abolition Movement.

August Nimtz

From Jim Crow New Orleans to Professor in Mpls: The Making of a Black Communist

Phillipe Cunningham

Minneapolis City Council Member Draws on Experiences of Marginalization as a Black Trans Man to Reimagine Public Safety

Tina Burnside

Civil Civil Rights Attorney & Museum Curator Harvests the Stories Community Needs

Kathleen Farber

Union/DFL Activist Remembers Lake Street in the '60s

Minneapolis Uprising

Testimony and Timeline, May 25th -July 9, 2020

Jimmy Patiño Jr.

Scholar Activist uses Insider/Outsider Strategy to Build Chicano & Latino Studies

Roxxanne O’Brien

Northside Environmental Justice Activist Speaks Truth to Power.

Henry Jimenez

Son of Undocumented Immigrants with Las Vegas Roots, Advocates for Latinx Minnesota

Julius Lee (1931-2022)

Tuskegee Graduate Migrated from Alabama to Escape Jim Crow

Rachel Schmitt

Educator Rooted in Love and Solidarity

Chicago! What you mean to me. Love, Minneapolis

Alice A. Anderson (1932-2017)

Born On the MN/Canadian Border. Beautiful Activist of South Minneapolis

Tammy Ortegon

Artist Exposes Minneapolis’ Economic Borders

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez

Chicano Reporter from LA, Centers Marginalized Workers

Tom O’Connell

Our Minneapolis Revolution: 1930s, 1970s, & Today.

Roy Guzmán

Celebrated Queer Honduran Poet Puts Down Roots in Minneapolis

Jess Sundin

Police Justice and Anti-War Activist: The People Are My Mountains

Elizabeth Faue

Feminist Labor Historian Returns to North Minneapolis Roots

Mustafa Diriye

Somali Immigrant Found What Makes Home: Colleges, Coffee Shops and a Mosque

Ronald Judy

Rich Complexity of the Historic, South Minneapolis Black Community

Guy Terrill Gambill

Veteran, Once Homeless, Fought for Housing Rights.

Nelsie Yang

Hmong American with Northside Roots, Seeks Justice through City Hall and Streets

Ruth Voights

Collaborating to Center Native American Women

Teresa Ortiz

Mexico Ctiy Student Activist 1968, Becomes Latinx Advocate on Lake Street

Kendrick Wronski

Woman Behind the Painted Signs that Teach Anti-Racism

Artika Tyner

Law Professor, Community Justice Advocate, and Children's Author/Publisher with a Pan-African Lens

Louise Sundin

Minneapolis Teachers' Union Organizer, on 50 years of Labor Leadership

Acoma Gaither

Public Historian Archives George Floyd Memorial, and History of Minneapolis Mutual Aid

Katrina Knutson

Urban Queer Artist Fights Police Brutality & Advances Intersectional Liberation

Jane Burnett

St. Louis Park Girl Radicalized in 70s Chicago, Organizes at Ford Plant, St. Olaf Alumni

Drew Edwards

6th Grade Teacher Struggled in School. He Pushes and Turns the Stone in North Minneapolis

April Knutson

Former Leader of MN CP Continues to Build United Fronts

Alfreda Daniels

Liberian American Organizes Across Communities and Continents

Aiden Reed

Gay Adopted Teen, Seeks Space to Be Unique

David Lawrence Grant

Boyhood at Howard University, with Stars like Toni Morrison, Learned to Write Things That Matter

Minneapolis and the World Need Less Policing, more Humanity

Gilberto Vázquez Valle (1958-2021)

Radio Host Built Solidarity Through Encuentro with Latin American Folk Music

Judy Cooper Lyle

From North Dakota Farmer's Union to Urban Spectrum Theatre -- Committed to Community.

Barb Tilsen

Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Mother, Grandmother, Organizer

Philli Irvin (Steven Johnson)

How He Got to Now: The Creative Influences of a North Minneapolis Community Artist

Margo Hurrle

Advocate for MPS Students, on Policies to End Child Homelessness

Cops and unions.

Roya Taylor

Indigenous Radio Host and Actor Begins Her Third Act

Adriana Cerrillo

Elevates Immigrant Voices to Change Racist Policies

Brittany Lewis

Action Researcher Harvests Community Wisdom to Affect Public Policy and Heal Herself

Angela Hooks

Beauty Queen Advocates Black On Black Development & Solidarity with Incarcerated People

School Days. Minneapolis Project interviewees in conversation.

Patrick Scully

Patrick's Cabaret Founder Lives Authentic Artist Life While Elevating Minneapolis Art Scene

Connie Edberg

Native American Educator Refuses to be Objectified or Typecast

Angela Conley

Hennepin County Commissioner Learned to Solve "Unsolvable Problems" by Listening to Survivors

Anna K. Binkovitz

Poet and MeToo Advocate, on the Politics of Consent.

Effie Lee

Born in Mississippi in 1937, Recruited by Tuskegee to Work Minneapolis Food Service

Minerva Munoz

Makes Space in College For Working-Class People Like Her.

Celebrating Kirk Washington Jr. Day

Cathy Jones

Postal Worker Fights Police Brutality, Discrimination in the Workplace

Sandy Hernandez

Growing Up Undocumented in Minneapolis

Daniel Alberto Perez

For School Social Worker; Labor, & Immigrant Rights Organizer, Three North American Nations are Home

Wyn Massey

Minneapolis Labor Activist Recalls 40 Years of Resistance

Marcie Rendon

Fought Criminal Injustice with American Indian Movement, became Indigenous Mystery Writer

Jerry Rau

Vietnam Veteran Against War becomes Sidewalk Troubadour

Hye-Kyong Kim

Korean Adoptee's Asian Identity Journey, Leads to Career as Trauma Healer

Rose Brewer

From Tulsa to Minneapolis: Activist Scholar is Rooted in Community

Ricardo Levins Morales

Puerto Rican Social Justice Artist Organizes to Win

Robin Wonsley

Radical Transformation of an Organizer from Chicago's Southside

Michael McConnell

Married His Husband in 1971, Demands Equality for All.

Love is a lot, but it’s not all there is.

Sandy Berman

The Making of a Radical Librarian

Veronica Mendez Moore

CTUL Organizer Builds Labor Power with Marginalized Workers

Susana De Leon

From Torreón to Minneapolis: Immigration Attorney and Kalpulli Ketzal Coatlicue Dancer

Should you Support Black Lives Matter?

Minneapolis Interview Project Explained

What you need to know about using this site

Charmaine Bell

Educator & Family Advocate Uses Multiple Consciousnesses to Envision Structural Change

Roya Damsaz

From Iranian Revolution to Grassroots Movements in North Minneapolis.

Irna Landrum

Black Queer Lefty From New Orleans Reclaims Nature, God and Politics

Kenneth Holt 

For This Educator Black Lives Matter Is Not a Movement; It’s His Life

Nick Shillingford

Listen to Nurses, Build Coalitions, Create Socialist Alternatives to Mainstream News

Ahmed Anzaldua

Choral Director of BorderCrossSINGS Revolutionizes Classical and Folk Music

Raymond Dehn

Youthful Addiction & Incarceration Shape Perspective on Legislating

Lisa Albrecht

Lesbian Feminist Educator Still Learning, To Repair the World

Before George Floyd’s Murder: A Testimonial History of Police Brutality and Resistance in Minneapolis (Work in Progress)

Chris Juhn

Social Movement Photographer and ABLE Press Founder

Valérie Déus

Haitian American Poet Misses New York, Builds Artist's Life in South Minneapolis

4th precinct Occupation Built Community in Ways that Can’t be Bulldozed

Minneapolis Project. Transformational moments when life takes a turn.

Bruce Nestor

From Immigrant Meat Packers to RNC and Standing Rock: The People's Lawyer

John Samuel Wright

4th Generation Minnesotan Recalls 150 years of Resistance to Jim Crow North
Jason Sole at Hamline University, January 23, 2020

Jason Sole

Formerly Incarcerated Professor Makes Sacred Trouble

Minneapolis Interview Project
Life Stories that reveal inequities and struggles for social justice in Minneapolis

Anne Winkler-Morey

Anne Winkler-Morey is a writer, historian, educator, activist and bicyclist based in Minneapolis. She is a scholar of social movements, nationalism and inequality in the US and Latin America. She began writing the Minneapolis Interview Project in May, 2016, completing it in November 2023. Her book, Allegiance to Winds and Waters: Bicycling the Political Divides of the United States , was published April, 2022. In November 2023 she began a two-year world tour. Read her blog at: annewinklermorey.com

Eric Mueller

Eric Mueller is a Minneapolis-based artist, photographer, and teacher. He began photographing portraits for the Minneapolis Interview Project in early 2019. His photo book, Family Resemblance, was published by Daylight Books in 2020. His year-long, photo-a-day project "Reset 2021" was exhibited at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona in 2022.

©2016-2023 Anne Winkler-Morey. All Rights Reserved.

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