Legacy Grant for Highland Park

The big news: HIGHLAND HERITAGE PROJECT (founded by HCI in partnership with Friends of Highland Arts — FoHA) applied for and received a Minnesota Historical Society Legacy Grant to fund research about Highland history and to document current developments. We are grateful to the MNHS and the staff members we consulted with for their patience helpful guidance.

The heritage project will have several phases, but we want it to culminate in a book as well as an interactive website with fascinating and fun information that informs, invites participation, and acknowledges what has gone before. That includes recognizing that the land we are living on and seeing transformed is Dakota land.

What is Mapping Prejudice?

The killing of George Floyd throws a powerful spotlight on communities and challenges us on many levels and in many ways. Our work with the Highland Heritage Project legacy grant reflects this reality. HHP is partnering with St. Catherine University and Welcoming the Dear Neighbor? which brings the Mapping Prejudice project to Ramsey County.

Emerging data confirming racial disparities among people suffering and dying from COVID-19 is a challenging reminder of what systemic injustice in the US and in our own backyards has wrought. As a way of building community awareness about housing injustice, Mapping Prejudice and St. Catherine University’s Center for Community Work and Learning have enlisted volunteers to help document racial covenants in Ramsey County.

Begun in Minneapolis, the project revealed the redlining practices and racial covenants that created segregated neighborhoods. The information gathered about the Highland area will be included in HHP research and reporting. (See article in The Villager, March 18, 2020. )

To contact the project: dearneighbor@stkate.edu

MNHS Message

“During this time of challenge, the Minnesota Historical Society is resolved to hold Minnesota’s history in trust for all its citizens. We are committed to using the power of history to help Minnesota become a more reflective, inclusive, and empathetic community. Members are crucial partners in championing the transformational power of history: how it opens up to new ideas, offers new perspectives, and brings us closer to the future we long to create.”
– Kent Whitworth, Director, and CEO, Minnesota Historical Society

We at HHP and FoHA are grateful to the Minnesota Historical Society for the legacy research grant that gives us this opportunity to document and preserve Highland’s history. We also wish to thank the staff for their accessibility and patience in working with us.

Minnesota Historical Society’s web site is a virtual treasure trove. There you can research your neighbor and family research or explore collections online such as the current Native American exhibit.

“The museum is temporarily closed, but you can still experience Our Home: Native Minnesota
Watch videos featuring contemporary Ojibwe and Dakota people, view images of items in the exhibit, and explore the curated list of digital resources.”

Link: https://www.mnhs.org/historycenter/activities/museum/our-home

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