Biographical Information: Benjamin Louis Alexander is originally from Illinois; he moved to Minnesota to pursue Mortuary Science at the University of Minnesota. During World War II, Mr. Alexander served as a Tuskegee Airman. He was attending Langston University when he first met his wife, a student from Minnesota at the same university.

Biographical Information: The Three-Fours Girls Club was formed when two ten-year old girls asked their mothers for a club. The club for girls, created and taught by mothers, continued for about three years. However, the friendships and sense of extended family has lasted a lifetime. Five alumni are interviewed: Vanne Owens Hayes, Mary Kalleen Murray Boyd, Paula Thomason Mitchell, Carol Dawson and Linda Griffin Garrett.

Biographical Information: Marvin Anderson has been known by different names at different times in his life: Roger, Marvin, and Androck. He shares the joy of the close group of friends, Crazy Eights, which he had during his high school years. His father led a hard life as a railroad waiter and his mother, to him, was a powerful black women. They both influenced him greatly.

Biographical Information: Mary K. Boyd's parents settled in Saint Paul after attending traditional black colleges in the South. They raised her along with foster children and provided a home for extended family as well. Her father worked at the post office and was a professional musician. She participated in Tomorrow's Scientists and Technicians Club and the Junior Red Cross. She later served in the junior branch of the NAACP, eventually becoming its president. Boyd attended college in Arizona where she faced discrimination. She trained and worked for the civil rights movement and went on to an accomplished career as a school administrator.

Biographical Information: At age 79, Melvin Carter, Sr. describes the Rondo Avenue of his childhood. He shares his father's history of playing in circus bands before coming to Minnesota and how his father began musical groups for the youth in the community, inspiring several to become professional musicians. He played in a Navy band during World War II and later played in musical groups for local social clubs. After the decline of the railroad business, Carter moved to the Saint Paul School District. He went on to become the first black to achieve a Chief Engineer License and worked as the head engineer at Humboldt High School for the last five years of his service.

Biographical Information: Billy Collins grew up in the Rondo community. The youth organizations and mentors provided there made a positive influence in his life. Billy's role model during his teen years was his father even though he spent the majority of his time away from home working as a waiter on the railroad.

Biographical Information: Eighty-two year old Anisah Dawan grew up as Elizabeth Payne. She lived in an orphanage in Owatonna, Minnesota, after her biological mother died. She was adopted by Martha and Albert Payne at age two or three and lived on Carroll Avenue in the Rondo Corridor. She later moved to Iowa to marry and set up her first home. She also converted to Islam.

Biographical Information: Wilbert Dugas was born in 1949 and lived on the lower end of Rondo in Cornmeal Valley. He grew up being influenced by the Gopher Elk’s Drum and Bugle Corps. The Ober Boys Club and Hallie Q. Brown Community Center were key components of the community that, through sports and mentors, gave him a foundation in life.

Biographical Information: William Kelso "Corky" Finney was the only child of Maceo Alexander Finney and Lola Vassar Finney. He grew up on Rondo Avenue. He was sickly and asthmatic as a child which prevented him from participating in sports. His father was a role model to him and his mother an authoritarian. Corky grew up in the neighborhood with his mother's business, Mrs. Finney's Beauty Shop, and a family of close Vassar cousins.

Biographical Information: Teresina C. Frelix grew up in the Rondo neighborhood where she felt a sense of comfort that was taken away due to the I-94 project. Teresina attended a community school at Saint Peter Claver and went on to attend Central High School in ninth grade.

Biographical Information: Eighty-nine year old Willie Frelix worked as a Pullman porter and later as a construction worker. Working as a Pullman porter, he traveled to many places in America and loved his job of supporting the soldiers during World War II.

Biographical Information: Kathryn Coram Gagnon grew up in the Rondo community. She was a light skinned black person and experienced discrimination in Minnesota. Kathryn attended the University High School and participated in sports at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center and Saint Philips Episcopal Church. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College, received several masters degrees, and was a successful school administrator.

Biographical Information: Barbara "Petey" Vassar Gray grew up as a "Vassar Girl" in the Rondo neighborhood. After graduating from Mechanic Arts High School, she went on to attend the University of Minnesota and received a Master’s Degree from the College of St. Catherine. She went on to become the assistant director of a tri-county library system near Detroit, Michigan.

Biographical Information: James Stafford Griffin was born at 587 Rondo. He grew up in this racially integrated neighborhood in the 1920s. His father was a dining car waiter for the Northern Pacific. He went to college in West Virginia and later worked for the Saint Paul Police Department.

Biographical Information: Mary Chambers Bradley Hamilton was 100 years old at the time of the interview and grew up in the Rondo neighborhood. She lost her father when she was 12 years old and lived with her mother and six sisters in Rondo. She graduated from Neill School and went on to Mechanic Arts. After three years in Mechanic Arts, she got married and later had five children.

Biographical Information: Mel Henderson grew up in the Rondo neighborhood. His father worked as Pullman porter and his grandparents had a farm in Hugo, Minnesota. It was a tightly knit community and the police beat officer looked after the neighborhood children. He became a star athlete at Central High School and went on to attend the University of Minnesota on an athletic scholarship. He retired after serving as Dean at the Metropolitan State University.

Biographical Information: Nathaniel [Davis] Abdul Khaliq was born and raised in Minnesota. Growing up in the Rondo neighborhood he was provided with a deep sense of nurturing and protection as a child. His grandparents raised him with the help of a supportive extended family; they were some of the last to be evicted from Rondo Avenue in 1956. He later became a community activist and a member of the Nation of Islam.

Biographical Information: Gloria Lewis was seventy-five years old at the time of the interview. During her early marriage she and her family lived in Lower Rondo or Cornmeal Valley.

Biographical Information: Richard Morris Mann became a member of the Sterling Club in 1949. He owned a bar in the Rondo neighborhood that became a gathering place, and a nightclub outside of Rondo that featured live black music and catered mainly to college students. His bar business was directly impacted by World War II and the neighborhood’s economic shift after the war.

Biographical Information: Gloria Massey grew up in the Rondo community with her family and extended family. Her parents raised their children with values for the community and respect for authority. Her gang of friends walked everywhere together in all weather during her teenage years and she was extensively involved with activities at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center.

Biographical Information: Yusef Mgeni was born in 1948. He was raised in the Rondo neighborhood as Charlie Anderson. His family has a rich history as civic and community leaders. He was influenced by the national figures that visited Minnesota and his experience reading his grandfather's extensive library of black authors.

Biographical Information: Gladys Versie Clemons Miller cared for her elderly parents while her brothers worked to support the family. She worked in sales at downtown department stores and helped her husband get a position at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant. She put her money into the family grocery store and belonged to social clubs in the community.

Biographical Information: Debbie Montgomery lived in the Rondo neighborhood and has maintained life long friendships while living a few blocks from her childhood home. She was a tomboy raised by her grandparents, loved athletics and challenged the boys with her abilities. She was the first woman to pass the test and attend the same academy as men in the St. Paul Police Department. She served as a police officer for twenty-eight years. She was the first youth to be elected to the NAACP National Board and went on to become the first black woman to be elected to St. Paul's City Council.

Biographical Information: Ora Lee O'Neal Patterson grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and attended activities at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center and Pilgrim Baptist Church. She attended primary schools with predominantly white classmates. Her mother was an active homemaker and her father was active in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the Pullman porters' union.

Biographical Information: Connie Jones Price shares how her grandfather was routinely fired for not being part of a union but he was not allowed to join the union because he was black. Her grandmother worked at the packing plants, one of the few places blacks could work. She grew up with all black neighbors who have college degrees and was raised with a definitive sense of quality in her education and possessions. Dr. Price went on to receive her PhD in her adult life but faced discrimination in finding employment that represented her abilities.

Biographical Information: Ventress Roberson's childhood in the Rondo neighborhood consisted of a friendly atmosphere with various businesses in the area. Her father worked as a Pullman porter and her mother was very active in the community and in her church, Pilgrim Baptist. Ms. Roberson was a member of the Golden Agers club at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center.

Biographical Information: Floyd G. Smaller lived in the Rondo neighborhood and in the South. He came home to be a teacher and a coach. He was a member and commander of the Gopher Elk’s Drum and Bugle Corps. He went to a traditional black college in Arkansas.

Biographical Information: The idea to have a parade and celebrate commemorating Rondo started when Marvin and Floyd remembered all the fun things that happened to them on Rondo. Two friends who shared this neighborhood and their commitment to giving life to Rondo's beautiful memories began the process, calling their first meeting for July 4, 1982 and announcing a dream to meet after one year. After this, the project became a huge success as more people got involved and worked to make this celebration a reality.

Biographical Information: Buelah Baines Swan was born in 1927 at Ancker Hospital in St. Paul. She is the eldest daughter of Walter and Nina Baines. Her father had a business, W. B. Baines, Sr. Coal and Wood, on Rondo Avenue. Mrs. Swan helped her father as a child at his business.

Biographical Information: Dr. David Vassar Taylor was brought up in a strong family with extended family for support. His first journalism experience was with a neighborhood newspaper that he and friends published weekly. The Black Episcopal Church played a critically important role in his life.

Biographical Information: Janabelle Murphy Taylor was born in 1920 at Ancker Hospital in St. Paul. She is a member of the Credjafawns Social Club and a lifelong member of Pilgrim Baptist Church. She was very active in youth activities at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center as a child and, after receiving her degree from the University of Minnesota, she became a Girls' Worker and later the Program and Camp Director.

Biographical Information: Bernice Wilson was eighty-two years old at the time of the interview. She moved to St. Paul from Chicago in 1949.

Biographical Information: Don Gaugh Wilson was seventy-four years old at the time of the interview and a recent widower with three offspring. He had been married for fifty-five years and retired at the age of fifty-eight in 1987. He grew up as a foster child; his foster mother Mrs. Josephine influenced him very much, teaching him how to take care of himself. He had a successful career as a boxer but later moved on to menial jobs and then worked for Honeywell, where he earned the Tempo Award for work achievement. In the 1970s he did management seminars called Minority Group Dynamics, helping government agencies address issues of "colorism".

Biographical Information: At the time of the interview Gloria Gilbreath had lived most of her seventy-seven years in one little oblong from Dale Street to Chatsworth and from St. Anthony to Iglehart. Her father worked as redcap at the Union Depot for forty-one years and her mother, a trained beautician, worked mostly as a matron at Donaldson, a manufacturing company. She grew up in the Rondo community and loved to play basketball and dance. Gloria began working as a matron at the downtown train depot at age thirty-one and had her family's home taken away to make way for a bridge to be built over the freeway.