United States History Commons^™

Black Cloud: The Struggles Of St. Cloud's African American Community, 1880-1920, Christopher P. Lehman

Ethnic and Women's Studies Faculty Publications

From the 1890s to the 1920s, a community of over one dozen African Americans existed in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It consisted of African Americans from the South and elsewhere in the North. Most found employment in low-wage jobs, but some--like John Webster and David Basfield--started their own businesses in town. Their children attended the same schools as the other local school-age children, and one of them--Ruby Cora Webster--became the first known graduate of what became St. Cloud State University. The children left St. Cloud by the 1920s, and their parents either stayed there or relocated with them. In the meantime, …