Today is the first day of the Minnesota DailyâÄôs month-long focus on the history of African-Americans at the University of Minnesota. WeâÄôve selected 28 pieces about African-American history from our archive, including news articles, columns, readerâÄôs quizzes, editorials and letters to the editor, all of which present this history through the DailyâÄôs uniquely student perspective.

Every day this month a new piece will be featured at https://www.mndaily.com/archives/featured.

Over the next 28 days, I hope this project will not only increase our readersâÄô awareness about the struggles and contributions of African-American students at this University but create a discussion on campus about their lasting legacy.

I encourage you to take part in that discussion through contributing letters to the editor, writing guest columns and commenting online.

Although this selection is small compared to the DailyâÄôs 111-year printing history, these stories paint a clear picture of the changing culture at the University. Please feel free to browse the entire PDF library of the DailyâÄôs archive for yourself at https://www.mndaily.com/archive/pdf.

I want to acknowledge the help of professors John Wright and Walt Jacobs of the African American & African Studies department for their assistance in putting this project together. Their guidance in selecting and presenting these articles was invaluable.

ThereâÄôs no reason why every month canâÄôt be considered “Black History Month,” but we hope that your interest in African-American history at the
University is stimulated by this project. If you go into March having learned something new or considering a question you hadnâÄôt before, I will consider it a success.

Thomas Q. Johnson is president and co-publisher of the Minnesota Daily. He welcomes comments at [email protected]