History of the African American Community of North Minneapolis >>>>> Part Five, Current Leadership and Issues

Ironically, in a country in which desegregation now was the official policy, African American kids grew up in a residential and academic world that became increasingly segregated.  Whites left the Northside and other inner city areas in great numbers.  As the previously restricted housing covenant eased, many middle class African Americans also chose to move to the suburbs.  By the 1980s, the Northside became the residential focus of another wave of migrants, this time from other northern cities, notably Chicago.  The quality of housing, education, social services, and standard of living in Minneapolis seemed to most of these new arrivals to be much better than that which had prevailed in their previous locales.  A few saw Minneapolis as relatively virgin territory to ply a trade in the newly popular drug of crack cocaine, or to establish a base for gang activity.

A number of new institutions arose to serve the needs of this less stable and more restive African American population.  From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, first Syl Davis and Gwyn Davis, then Spike Moss did their best to keep hope alive among African American young people with programming that in some ways was reminiscent, though with a much more activist edge, of that which had been offered by the old Phyllis Wheatley:  The Way and Opportunities Unlimited offered classes in African American history and culture, encouraged and developed talented young musicians (including Terry Lewis, Jimmy Jam, and Prince), sponsored marching bands, and inspired young people such as Bobby Champion, who would found the highly successful gospel choir, Excelsior.  In the early 1990s, The City, Inc., already operating on the Southside, would establish itself on the Northside and in many respects carry on the work of The Way.  Pilot City would come into a spot at Plymouth and Penn formerly occupied by a synagogue, bringing an array of medical and social services to a community in need.  Peter Hayden would found The Turning Point to help those who sought to put the world of drugs and addiction aside and begin life anew.  Eric and Ella Mahmoud would establish two promising new educational institutions, the Seed Academy for those of preschool age, and Harvest Prep for those at K-8.  Al Macfarlane would turn Insight News into a dynamic new African American newspaper, sponsoring also the influential Insight News Forum every Tuesday at Lucille’s Kitchen, and later a similar program, “Conversations,” on Mondays.  Alfred Babbington-Johnson, with his values-oriented entrepreneurial initiatives at Stairstep Foundation;  and Jerry McAfee, with his community outreach activities through his pastorate at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, emerged in the 1990s to offer hope to people in a community searching for spirituality, meaning, identity, and economic uplift.   In the late 1990s, Sherrie Pugh would come on staff as the executive director of the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council, offering a creative vision of community beautification and more high-quality, affordable housing.  Clarence Hightower, inheriting the legacy of Gleason Glover and Gary Sudduth, would oversee the construction of an impressive new building at Penn and Plymouth, and a number of “continuous improvement” initiatives at the Minneapolis Urban League. 

Scott Gray's tenure was ultimately not successful. 

The verdict is still out on the tenure of Steve Belton as President/ CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League.