Fun Facts about Minnesota Human Rights
- The
Department of Human Rights was established
in 1967 to succeed
the State Commission Against Discrimination.
- Minnesota has one of the more progressive human rights
laws in the nation.
- From the 1930s to the 1960s, Rondo
Avenue was at
the heart of Saint Paul's largest black neighborhood.
- Saint Paul
is home to the largest urban
population of Hmong in the World.
- In 1867 Minnesota established a State
Board of Immigration to persuade potential settlers to move to our state.
- John Frank Wheaton, was the first African American
elected to the Minnesota Legislature.
- Minnesota became part of the United States as the
Minnesota Territory in 1849.
- The early Minnesota legislature drafted two
constitutions,
one written by Republicans and one by Democrats.
- In 1977 Rosalie Wahl became the first woman to serve
on the Minnesota State Supreme Court.
- The Americans with Disabilities (ADA) became law
in 1990; it was the first comprehensive civil rights law for people
with disabilities in the world.
- In 1981 the Department of Human Rights was given
responsibility for affirmative action in the construction of
the Metrodome.
