Slavery in Minnesota

About

Slavery's reach into Minnesota extended well beyond Dred Scott at Fort Snelling. Enslavers from southern slave states poured thousands of dollars into cities and towns all over the state. Prominent Minnesotans such as Henry Rice and Sylvanus Lowry became powerful in part from their sales of real estate to slaveholders, and local institutions such as the University of Minnesota benefited from slaveholder patronage. The impact of wealth from slave labor on Minnesota is the subject of the book Slavery's Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State by Christopher P. Lehman.

Dr. Christopher P. Lehman is a professor of Ethnic Studies at St. Cloud State University, and he has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University's W. E. B. Du Bois Institute. He is the author of Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley and the upcoming Slavery's Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State.