Mitsuye Yamada
Acclaimed poet, feminist writer, and human rights activist. Much of Yamada’s work draws on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans.
Category Archives: Activism
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Shimeji Kanazawa
Nisei activist who was the community liaison between the Japanese community and the military government in Hawai’i during World War II. She later supported community causes for the elderly like Project Dana.
Irene Gomez-Bethke
Irene Gomez-Bethke, a daughter of Mexican parents who immigrated to Minnesota, played a leadership role in bending the arc of history toward social justice, serving as Minnesota Commissioner of Human Rights, guiding boards and commissions as a volunteer, and co-founding both Centro Cultural Chicano and Instituto de Arte y Cultura.
Emily Grey
Best known for initiating the effort to free an enslaved woman named Eliza Winston in 1860, she weathered mob violence for her efforts. She rebuilt her home and business after the incident and lived in Minneapolis for the remainder of her life.
Theresa Ericksen
After graduating from Northwestern Hospital’s School of Nursing in 1894, Theresa Ericksen led a life of service as a healer, teacher, and promoter of public health and nursing education. Her legacy has ties to the Minnesota Nursing Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Christmas Seals, and Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
Alice Tripp
A self-proclaimed “jumper-inner,” Alice Tripp made her mark as a grassroots activist and self-taught farmer. She was a key leader of a movement opposing the CU Powerline, which began construction on western Minnesota farmland in the early 1970s.
Nellie Stone Johnson
Nellie Stone Johnson was an African American union and civil rights leader whose career spanned the class-conscious politics of the 1930s and the liberal reforms of the Minnesota DFL Party.
Ruth A Myers
A persistent voice for Native children and their families, Myers focused on education policy as well as learning opportunities for Native students. She also produced curricula and resource materials that reflected Native American history and culture for all Minnesota learners.
Clara Ueland
Clara Ueland was a lifelong women’s rights activist and prominent Minnesotan suffragist.
Maria Sanford
One of the first female professors in the United States, Maria Sanford was an English professor at the University of Minnesota for nearly thirty years.