By Emma Nesmith

Every major city has its own history of housing injustice and discrimination, and St. Paul is no exception. This tale of injustice, though, comes hand in hand with a legacy of activism and advocacy. The East Side Freedom Library’s Housing Justice program aims to capture that very legacy within St. Paul’s history. With our newest venture, the History of Housing Activism Exhibit, we hope to create a knowledge base of the history of housing activism in St. Paul, and use this knowledge to create physical exhibits and digital databases open to the public. Through collaboration with the Minnesota Historical Society, the Mapping Prejudice project, and members of our own community, we hope to assemble a first hand history of housing justice and activism in St. Paul. 

The separation of the Rondo community is probably one of the most well known instances of housing discrimination in St. Paul’s history. Rondo housed a majority share of all of St. Paul’s Black residents at the time, and functioned as the hub of the Black community in the city. For many families, it was one of the only areas in which redlining, racial covenants, and other forms of housing discrimination had not forced them out. In 1965, the city announced the construction plan for I-94, which would cut directly through Rondo, effectively isolating the two halves of the community from one another. The government offered “just compensation” for residents who vacated the construction area, but the sums were far lower than the value of the homes and the cost of relocating. Those who weren’t forced to move away were separated from their families and friends, and businesses were separated from their customers. This callous separation enacted long-lasting violence on the residents of Rondo and on the larger Black community in St. Paul. Recent efforts to repair this damage include the “Reconnect Rondo” project, which aims to create a land bridge connecting the two sides of the neighborhood. However, this initiative has sparked some controversy within the actual community, as the project’s leaders failed to consult the many Rondo residents who didn’t necessarily support–or openly opposed–the project. The Twin Cities Boulevard Project has emerged as an alternative method of repairing Rondo. This project envisions transforming a seven and a half mile stretch of I-94 into a boulevard in order to increase walkability and public transportation, while also lessening the harmful impacts of the highway on the health of the community and the environment.  

The East Side neighborhood of Swede Hollow faced similar destruction at the hands of bureaucracy as Rondo. Named for the Swedish immigrants who flocked to the area in the 1860s, Swede Hollow was an almost entirely residential area which welcomed generations of immigrants to the Twin Cities. As the original population moved outwards into St. Paul, other groups began to inhabit the area, including Polish, Mexican, and Italian immigrants. Many critics continue to refer to Swede Hollow as squalid, a slum, because it lacked many modern amenities, but this view erases the importance of the community as a haven for immigrant families. Because of the lack of city water and electricity, though, in 1956 the Health Department shut down the community, classifying it as a health hazard. All of the residents were forced to relocate, and the Fire Department burned down their empty homes. The area has since been restored as a park and  memorial to the original community, but the commemoration does not erase the violence inflicted upon the residents of Swede Hollow.

Nonprofits and other private organizations provide a great deal of support for these issues of housing and poverty, but the most efficient and radical change often comes at the hands of those who live those experiences every day. One such initiative, organized by and for unhoused individuals in St. Paul, is the Up and Out of Poverty Now! movement of the early 1990’s. The movement operated on the basic philosophy of involving impacted individuals in every level of leadership. They worked closely with other advocacy groups focused on a variety of issues, recognizing that they could not afford to isolate different types of oppression. Up and Out of Poverty Now! primarily utilized their “takeovers” to reclaim publicly owned buildings. Large groups would stage sit-in-esque occupations of vacant government owned buildings, essentially refusing to leave until the government relinquished the space to them. These buildings were supposedly available for rent to nonprofit organizations for very low costs, but in reality they required a level of repair that no nonprofit could afford. UOPN! circumvented the bureaucratic regulations keeping these buildings unoccupied, and put them in the hands of people who urgently needed housing. 

The portrayal of Swede Hollow as a “slum” or “hazard,” as well as the radical change enacted by unhoused people as part of the Up and Out of Poverty Now! initiative, exemplifies the need for these histories to be told by the ones who lived through them. The most common rhetoric in the media when it comes to housing injustice revolves around the idea that these situations stem from individual flaws or personal failures, rather than centuries of systemic oppression. This narrative sweeps a history of institutional injustice under the rug, erasing the experiences of real people who lived real lives in spite of the unjust circumstances they faced. Not only are primary accounts crucial to understanding the legacy of housing discrimination–and working to combat it in its current forms–documenting these stories is also a key part of preserving the legacy of our communities. Movements like Up and Out of Poverty Now changed the physical and cultural landscape of St. Paul, and their impact is something to be proud of, to honor and not allow to be erased.

In creating this exhibit we hope to draw primarily on the first hand experience and personal stories which are so central to the preservation of history. If you or someone you know have participated in housing activism–in the areas mentioned above, or in issues such as tenant organization and legislative lobbying–we would love for you to collaborate with us on this project. We’re happy to conduct interviews, talk on the phone, or just hear your stories. Here are some ways you can get in touch with us to let us know of your interest in the History of Housing Activism Exhibit:

Take our short interest survey and we’ll email you with more information

Email [email protected] or [email protected] 

Call the East Side Freedom Library at (651) 207-4926

Thank you for your ongoing support for the ESFL and justice in our community!