Library News: July ’23
By CARZ NELSON
All information listed here is accurate as of June 15, 2023. For the most recent information, check out the library website at www.hclib.org.
FRANKLIN LIBRARY HOURS
Monday 9 AM to 5 PM Tuesday 12 PM to 8 PM Wednesday 12 PM to 8 PM Thursday 12 PM to 8 PM Friday 9 AM to 5 PM Saturday 9 AM to 5 PM Sunday 12 PM to 5 PM
SOMALI ARTS AND ARTIFACTS
Join us for a celebration of Somali art and artifacts! Experience the rich cultural heritage of Somalia through a series of educational workshops and engaging activities.
Franklin Library
Thursday, July 6 at 1 to 5 PM
LIVE SHOW: JAPANESE TAIKO DRUMMING
Experience driving rhythms and movements inspired by martial arts. Taiko (“big drum” in Japanese) is a joyful and expressive way to experience Japanese-American culture, move your body, and have a great time!
Franklin Library
Sunday, July 9 at 2 to 2:45 PM
MAKE ART! WITH THE WALKER ART MUSEUM
Spend an afternoon making art with the Walker Art Museum! This drop-in style artmaking workshop is for youth and teens looking to try out new art projects and explore their creative side. No experience necessary!
Franklin Library
Tuesday, July 11 at 1:30 to 3 PM
YARD GAMES AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Come enjoy the summer outside on Franklin’s lawn.… Read the rest “Library News: July ’23”
Tales: Strawberries in October
Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery
212th in a Series
By SUE HUNTER WEIR
Maria Elizabeth Siglin was born in Sweden on July 12, 1850. She emigrated to the United States in 1880, when she was 30 years old. One year later, on September 27, 1881, she married Johan Herman Siglin who was born in Sweden on April 27, 1851. He was the youngest of his parents’ six children.
In 1853, when Herman (his preferred name) was two years old, his father died. His mother died in 1861, leaving him orphaned by the time that he was ten years old. When he was 22, he emigrated to the United States, arriving on May 26, 1873. Immigration records indicate that he was single and traveling alone. Between 1873 and 1882, he lived in the United States, most likely near Clinton, Iowa, since that is where he and Maria were married.
Although census records suggest that they moved to Minnesota in 1882, Herman’s name didn’t appear in the Minneapolis City Directory until 1885.… Read the rest “Tales: Strawberries in October”
Something I Said: The Ku Klux Klan in Minnesota
By DWIGHT HOBBES
Mention the KKK and your next thought probably is its history of hunting, harassing and hanging black folk. However, it didn’t start there – at least not in Minnesota. African Americans simply became these terrorists’ preferred target (a black woman, Beulah Mae Donald, it turns out, bankrupted the organization in court). Before black people, Elizabeth Dorsey Hatle’s The Ku Klux Klan in Minnesota (The History Press) documents, it was Germans. That would eventually include Catholics, Jews and just about everybody who wasn’t them – working class Protestants.
Newspapers like the Waseca Herald, Anoka Herald and Owatonna Journal-Chronicle helped things, along with Hollywood propagandist hit film, The Birth of a Nation, (originally titled The Clansman) aiding the cause. Which, importantly, selective law enforcement and slick politicians insidiously empowered. Earle Brown, for instance, qualified on both accounts. As Hennepin County Sheriff, he told a 1923 grand jury he infiltrated the Klan but, Hatle writes, “[He] did nothing during his tenure to stop the Minneapolis…chapters from meeting or burning their crosses in Hennepin County.” The city had at least 10 chapters. Also, while it was hardly a forerunner of the women’s movement, the WKKK had female members.… Read the rest “Something I Said: The Ku Klux Klan in Minnesota”
