Minneapolis 1967 & 2020: An Analysis of Uprisings as the Manifestation of Inequities in the Urban Landscape

Abstract

Many American cities, including Minneapolis, have a long history of racism built into the urban fabric. By implementing racial covenants and through the process of redlining, the city was segregated on the basis of race, religion, and class. These forms of explicit segregation led to community disenfranchisement and created a strained atmosphere like a powder keg waiting to explode. The 1967 Plymouth Avenue Uprising in the Near Northside neighborhood was a response to the decades of neighborhood divestment and isolation. Plymouth Avenue marked a turning point in the history of Minneapolis. In the decades following the uprising, the city underwent extensive renewal projects with the goal of creating the model city of the 20th century. The city would also diversify in tandem, changing the image of what it means to be a Minneapolitan. Community leaders in 1967 prophesied that if the city didn’t undertake radical change that addressed the root problems behind the Plymouth Avenue uprising, tensions would continue to simmer and eventually would erupt once again. These words rang true in 2020 with the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent uprising that was on a scale never before seen in Minneapolis. Analysis of the two instances of upheaval in the city’s history offers a number of crucial lessons from the past that look to the future. Historical and comparative analysis was conducted using primary and secondary source material. This analysis has led to the identification of parallels between the two uprisings and a call for reckoning. Racist practices continue to impact the trajectory of Minneapolis's history, and we cannot continue on this path.