Posts Tagged ‘Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery’
Presidential Politics in the Black Community of Mpls. in 1872
253st from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery… By SUE HUNTER WEIR On August 24, 1872, the Minneapolis Tribune printed an announcement signed by 74 members of Minneapolis’ African American Community endorsing Ulysses S. Grant’s bid for a second term as President. Black men in Minnesota had won the right to vote on November 3, 1868, two years before the 15th Amendment which granted suffrage to all men regardless of race was passed. But the 1872 election was their first opportunity to vote for a president. The group said that they had sent a letter to the Republican State Central Committee repudiating candidate Charles Sumner, who challenged Grant for the Republican nomination and declared their intent to follow up the letter “by ballots at the polls in November.” Black men in Minnesota had won the right to vote on November 3, 1868, two years before the 15th Amendment which granted suffrage to all men regardless of race was passed. Women of any race [...]
Dr. Martha Ripley: A Life Dedicated to Women and Their Babies
250th from Tales from Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery... By SUE HUNTER WEIR Dr. Martha G. Ripley, pioneering doctor in women’s and infant’s healthcare. Founder ofMinneapolis’ Maternity Hospital in 1887. In 1887, Dr. Martha G. Ripley opened the city’s first hospital whose mission was to servepregnant women and their infants. This was at a time when 95% of women had their babies athome. The infant mortality rate in 1885 is only an estimate, and ranges from 250-300 infantdeaths per 1,000 live births. Dr. Ripley dedicated the next 25 years of her life to changing that. Infant mortality rate in 1885:250-300 deaths per 1,000 live births. She wasn’t always successful. Seventy of the people (two adults and 26 infants) who areburied in the cemetery died in the Maternity Hospital. The first burial was 22-year-old AgnesClayton, one of the two adults. She died on April 15, 1887, from puerperal fever, a postpartumbacterial infection. Agnes, like a majority of the women who [...]
Cemetery Events Summer ’22
Summer Events at Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery Photo courtesy of TIM MCCALL Check the Friends of the Cemetery Facebook page for more events in the summer and later in the fall. Want a tour but don't see one that works? Contact Sue Hunter Weir at s-hunt1@umn.edu to talk about setting one up. Open Streets East Lake Street Saturday, August 13, 11 AM-4:30 PM Stop by and play old-fashioned games (there will be prizes for the kids), take a self-guided smartphone tour, and talk with volunteers. Murder, Mayhem and More (sponsored by Preserve Minneapolis) Sunday, August 21, Tours at 10 AM and 1 PM 10 AM: Tour will cover the southeast quadrant of the cemetery which includes many of the oldest graves, as well as the grave of our most notorious criminal, and those of notable territorial pioneers. 1 PM: Tour will cover the southwest quadrant of the cemetery, including the grave of William Goodridge, a pre-Civil War conductor on the Underground Railroad, [...]
