RONDO: Beyond the Pavement showing at the Rondo Library & at Ober Community Center

February 19, 2019

The next two public screenings of RONDO: Beyond the Pavement will be at the Rondo Library on February 21 and at Ober Community Center on February 22. Rondo Library Screening The

RONDO: Behind the Pavement – Podcast

October 11, 2018

The stories you will hear on this podcast are from the people who lived or live in the Rondo neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In the 1920s, Rondo, Saint Paul’s

The Song “Rondo Street”

October 11, 2018

Listen Now   Produced By Hubert Eaves III for Sallyson/Huemar Music, Inc. Written By Maynard (Mayno) Parker, Clyde (Buddy) Parker, and Hubert Eaves III Musicians Wee (Willie) Walker – Lead

Why Ain’t You a Doc?

March 15, 2016

Doc Bozeman tried to concentrate on that bullet—black and glistening with blood—and not on the fact that it was lodged in John Dillinger’s shoulder. Muscle and tissue gripped it like the gangster didn’t want to give it up, and Bozeman maneuvered to get a grip with his forceps.

What’s in a Name?

March 4, 2015

“All over (America), Negro boys and girls are growing into stunted maturity, trying desperately to find a place to stand, and the wonder is not that so many are ruined—but that so many survive!”
JAMES BALDWIN 1955

We Were Fine, Thank You

January 9, 2015

Kwame McDonald, an African pillar in the Saint Paul Rondo com- munity, was working on his autobiography when he transitioned into ancestorhood.

I Only Wanted Chicken

January 7, 2015

I always like to think about the fun one could have around the late 1960s. We could dance the night away. The clubs you could go to if you wanted to dress up or dress down.

What’s in a Name?

February 25, 2014

Growing up as young Black men in Saint Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, we learned a lot from the generation of Black men who preceded us. We, like they before us, were simply known as “the Rondo boys.” Rondo was where we learned to survive, to grow and develop—it was where we learned the value of our extended family membership, where we fell in love and got our hearts broken. It was also where we learned what’s in a name.

I Remember RONDO

By Moleen (Harris-Davis) Lowe ● December 10, 2013

I remember Rondo . . . the streets were cobbled stone. I remember Rondo . . . 450 was our home. I remember Rondo—the intersection Arundel Hill, On one corner the cab station; across the street, Joe’s Grocery Store . . . I remember Rondo, and we never locked our door. I remember Rondo—smiling faces still in my mind

Gordon Parks Recalling 1920s Rondo

May 31, 2011

Gordon Parks was an acclaimed artist who confronted poverty and racism with such creative grace that he became an internationally admired cultural icon long before his death in 2006 at age ninety-three. An accomplished photographer, writer, composer, musician, and film producer and director, Parks was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1912, and later moved to Saint Paul, where he spent his formative years. His memoir, A Choice of Weapons, which describes his experiences from 1928 through 1944, was first published in 1966 and reissued in 1986 and 2010 by the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Old Saint Paul

By W. A. Alexander ● February 9, 2011

Old Saint Paul, up and down your ripped up sidestreets, kids roam, hands deep in pockets, snapping ice with each step. Their mothers poke out of houses, “Time to come inside,” they say, waiting to hang blankets off shoulders and brush the child’s hair from his face.