Fergus Falls - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-10-02 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Westridge Theater, 2001 West Lincoln Ave, Fergus Falls, 56537, United States
To understand the challenges African Americans still face in being seen as full citizens in America today, it is important for us to understand the origin story of the path of formerly enslaved people becoming citizens. The past is not dead; it is not even really the past.
This film, created with our movie production partner OMG Studios, features Federal Minnesota District Court Judge Jerry Blackwell, author of Just Mercy and prominent civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Macalester University Professor Duchess Harris, and a cameo by Minnesota’s First Lady of Civil Rights, Dr. Josie Johnson.
K-12 educators will receive 2 clock hours.
Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

Fergus Falls - Sketches of Minnesota
2025-10-03 17:00 - 20:30 | A Center for the Arts, 124 W Lincoln Ave, Fergus Falls, MN, 56537, United States
Join the Minnesota Humanities Center, Danger Boat Productions, and Otter Tail Lakes Country for the Sketches of Minnesota civic improv comedy tour! These free events use laughter and comedy to celebrate Minnesota communities, promote dialogue, bridge divides, and help find ways to work constructively across differences in today’s political environment.
Beginning with a catered meal, these gatherings invite audience members to share what makes their town great, what they think people get wrong about it, what local divisions concern them, and what future they imagine. An improv comedy troupe listens in on the conversations, takes everything they heard from residents, and brings it to life on stage through entirely unscripted improv comedy theater.

5:00–6:00 PM: Doors open / Community hour at The Gathering Place (202 W Lincoln Ave. Fergus Falls)
6:00–7:15 PM: Dinner Catered by Union Eatery
7:15–8:00 PM: Performance at A Center for the Arts (124 W Lincoln Ave. Fergus Falls)
8:00–8:30 PM: Talkback

The work of the Minnesota Humanities Center is to create a stronger Minnesota by increasing our understanding of the beauty, wisdom, and stories of its people. Through partnerships, we facilitate the spaces, like Sketches of Minnesota, that seek to build connections and deepen understanding of ourselves and our communities in pursuit of a more just society.
Host Partner: Fergus Falls Events Council
Registration
This event is free but registration is required.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

Minneapolis – Feeding Our Souls the Essence of Unity
2025-10-06 18:00 - 20:30 | Lynette, 3753 42nd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55406, United States
Feeding Our Souls the Essence of Unity explores the themes of connecting and joy through food and community. Our host and feature partner is BIPOC Foodways Alliance (BFA) – a nonprofit organization that seeks to break down barriers between cultural communities using food as a tool. Through its program Immigrant Kitchen, BFA provides a platform for women of color and women of lived immigration and refugee experience to tell their stories through the lens of home cooking. They seek to uplift, share, and archive important cultural legacy stories and histories that mainstream food media may have a tendency to overlook or ignore. The evening’s host is Mecca Bos, Founder of BIPOC Foodways Alliance. Featured “home cook” chefs are Vivian Mims, Phonn Sann, Safa Abualreesh, and Christina Arias Acosta.
Mecca Bos is a Culinary Storyteller who has been working as a food writer and chef for more than 20 years. She worked as a staff writer for Insight News, food editor of the former publications Metro Magazine and City Pages, and has written for many local and national publications including Taste, Civil Eats, and The New York Times. She is a regular contributor to Minnesota Public Radio and is about to embark on a book that will be published by the University of Minnesota Press, Finding Our Tribe, exploring the biracial experience in America through the lens of food. She has worked as a chef, sous chef, and cook in many professional kitchens from casual to fine, including dinners at Platform by the James Beard Foundation in New York City.
Vivian Mims is a lifelong Rondo Community resident who learned to cook from her 94-year-old matriarch Juanell Mims. Vivian remembers extended, fried chicken dinners served by her mother every single Sunday. Vivian picked up the family tradition from her mother and is a skilled Soul Food cook. Vivian and her brother Davvie are currently working on a sprawling teleplay script that follows the trajectory of their family since they arrived in St. Paul during The Great Migration.
Phonn Sann is a Cambodian refugee who survived starvation in Thai Refugee camps during Cambodia’s devastating and brutal Civil War. She and her husband, Soreth Phann, were forced into an arranged marriage in that camp, and went on to have a large family who feel their family’s love through her mother’s cooking prowess. Phonn cooks Cambodian cuisine like a pro and keeps her family connected to their culture through this practice.
Safa Abulareesh moved to Minneapolis more than 30 years ago to join her husband who had business here. Like many Palestinians, she was born in Jordan after her grandparents were forced out of their home in Palestine during the 1948 “Nakba,” the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Like many of those Palestinians, Safa is still deeply rooted to her culture and cooks her traditional food as both a way to stay tethered to that culture, as well as an act of resistance.
Christina Arias Acosta is from Mexico City and was Sean Sherman’s first hire at the Indigenous Food Lab in Minneapolis. She helps with everything, including making staff meals for the entire team. She learned to cook from her grandparents and plans to make a green mole that her grandmother learned from her grandmother. Sean says Christina is the “resident elder” at IFL. Christina’s daughter and granddaughter also work for the organization, carrying on the tradition of mothers learning to cook from their mothers.
Registration
Registration for this event has SOLD OUT.
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Online Content Session - Era Two: Settler Colonialism and Atlantic Slavery
2025-10-07 16:00 - 17:30 | Online
Dive into the development of the institution of slavery and multiple perspectives on European colonization and early American society. Led by Dr. David Aiona Chang and Dr. Katharine Gerbner, this session will provide deep historical context, source analysis, and thematic framing.

View Dr. David Aiona Chang’s Bio

I am a Native Hawaiian historian of Indigenous people, colonialism, borders and migration in Hawaii and North America, focusing especially on the histories of Native American and Native Hawaiian people. My work moves between hyperlocal and global scales while centering the perspectives and experiences of Indigenous people and integrating close textual analysis, granular social history, theoretically informed analysis of race, gender, sexuality and nationalism, and Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies.

My second book, The World and All the Things Upon It: Native Hawaiian Geographies of Exploration was published in 2016 by the University of Minnesota Press. It speaks to a foundational imperative in Indigenous studies: the need to not just understand Indigenous people from their own perspectives, but to understand the world from their perspectives as well. It traces the ways that Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) explored the outside world and generated understandings of their place in it in the century and half after James Cook stumbled on their islands in 1778. In doing so, this book examines indigenous people as the active agents of global exploration, rather than the passive objects of that exploration, broadening our understanding of geographical knowledge production and power in the context of colonialism.

My first book, The Color of the Land, argues for the central place of struggles over the ownership of Native American lands in the history of racial and national construction by Creeks, African Americans, and whites in the Creek Nation and eastern Oklahoma. The Color of the Land was awarded the 2010 Theodore Saloutos Prize for best book in agricultural history from the Agricultural History Society and was granted Honorable Mention in the competition for the American Studies Association’s 2011 Lora Romero First Book Prize.

View Dr. Katharine Gerbner’s Bio

My research explores the religious dimensions of race, authority, and freedom in the early modern Atlantic world. My book, Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), shows how debates between slave-owners, black Christians, and missionaries transformed the practice of Protestantism and the language of race in the early modern Atlantic World. I am currently at work on a few different projects. One, entitled “Constructing Religion, Defining Crime,” examines how some non-European religions—particularly those that were practiced under slavery—have been excluded from the category of religion and criminalized over the past three centuries. A related project investigates the religious and medical practices of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, paying particular attention to obeah. I am interested in how Afro-Caribbean ideas about healing, prayer, and worship influenced the construction of European categories such as religion and medicine. I have also been working on an article about Missionaries and Maroons, which takes a micro-historical look at how and why maroon leaders sought to create alliances with Christian missionaries.

All Content Sessions will be conducted via Zoom and a Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)-hosted Canvas learning community. Each session’s lectures and discussions will be recorded and registered participants will receive access to the Canvas course with session recordings, curated resources, and collaborative planning tools.

High school U.S. History teachers and 5th and 7th grade educators are invited to participate in companion Pedagogy Sessions.

Registration
Content Sessions are open to all K–12 educators interested in historical content and source-based instruction. Educators are welcome to register for individual sessions that align with their interests and schedules. Join us for one or more sessions throughout the year.

This event is free but registration is required. Separate registration is required for each offering.

Registration Questions: Brittany.Rawson-Haeg@state.mn.us

Register Now

This offering is part of Navigating the U.S. History Eras: Content, Pedagogy, and Inquiry in the Classroom is a yearlong professional learning opportunity supporting implementation of Minnesota’s 2021 K–12 Academic Standards in Social Studies presented by MHC and MDE.

St. Paul & Online - Minnesota Writers Off the Page: Bronson Lemer
2025-10-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Minnesota Humanities Event Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Join us for an engaging reading and discussion exploring the collection of contemplative essays that form “The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship” by Bronson Lemer. Bronson will be joined by poet and Veteran Jessi Atherton as they consider how the book chronicles a journey for a sense of self, community, and belonging, Bronson’s experiences of serving in the military, gaining awareness of his sexual orientation, and living abroad as a gay man. Following the discussion, audience members are invited to participate in a Q&A session, enjoy light refreshments, and have further informal conversation with the featured speakers. Copies of “The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship” will be available for purchase, and the evening will finish with a book signing. This is a hybrid event; participants can join in-person or online.
About the Speakers
Bronson Lemer served as a carpenter in the Army National Guard for six years, including deployments to Kosovo in 2000 and Iraq in 2003. Besides “The Lonely Veteran’s Guide to Companionship,” he is the author of “The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq” (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011). In 2019, he was named a McKnight Writing Fellow. He lives in St. Paul and teaches writing at the University of Minnesota, Rochester.
Jessi Atherton is a mother, healer, Veteran, poet, lover of scrabble and charcuterie. Her writing touches on lived experiences and themes of motherhood, military, mental health, grief, healing, and humanity. Jessi is a Minnesota Humanities Center 2019 Veterans Voices awardee, a member and facilitator of Warrior Writers, a board member of the League of Minnesota Poets, and the Minnesota Assistant Counsel for Veterans. She is a 2023 Pat Tillman Scholar and US Army Veteran who served in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jessi’s work has been published throughout the years with Nodin Press, The Cuddy Foundation, Iliad Press, McGregor Publishing, the International Library of Poetry, and Middle West Press. Her first full collection, “The Time War Takes,” came out in April 2023 and received honorable mention in Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole Inaugural Biennial Award for Distinguished Book in Veterans Studies, 2024 and made Community of Literary Magazines and Presses must read for Women’s History Month, 2024. Jessi is the mom to three amazing daughters, a mental health nurse, and works as a Psychiatric Mental Health nurse practitioner.
This event is part of the Minnesota Writers Off the Page series, bringing the inspirational voices of Minnesota’s authors directly to readers. This event is presented in partnership with Quatrefoil Library; based in Minneapolis, Quatrefoil Library collects, maintains, documents and circulates gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer materials and information in a safe and accessible space, in order to promote understanding, an appreciation of diversity and history, and the value of communities.
Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

Duluth - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-10-10 15:00 - 16:30 | Zeitgeist Center for Arts, 222 East Superior Street, Duluth, MN, 55802, United States

Edge of the Wilderness - Sketches of Minnesota
2025-10-11 17:00 - 20:30 | Edge Center for the Arts, 101 2nd Ave, Bigfork, MN, 56628, United States
Join the Minnesota Humanities Center, Danger Boat Productions, and Edge Center for the Arts for the Sketches of Minnesota civic improv comedy tour! These free events use laughter and comedy to celebrate Minnesota communities, promote dialogue, bridge divides, and help find ways to work constructively across differences in today’s political environment.
Beginning with a catered meal, these gatherings invite audience members to share what makes their town great, what they think people get wrong about it, what local divisions concern them, and what future they imagine. An improv comedy troupe listens in on the conversations, takes everything they heard from residents, and brings it to life on stage through entirely unscripted improv comedy theater.

5:00–6:00 PM: Doors open / Community hour
6:00–7:15 PM: Dinner
7:15–8:00 PM: Performances
8:00–8:30 PM: Talkback

Host Partner: Edge Center for the Arts
The work of the Minnesota Humanities Center is to create a stronger Minnesota by increasing our understanding of the beauty, wisdom and stories of its people. Through partnerships, we facilitate the spaces, like Sketches of Minnesota, that seek to build connections and deepen understanding of ourselves and our communities in pursuit of a more just society.
Registration
This event is free but registration is required.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

St. Paul - Minnesota Humanities Center at the 2025 MEA Conference
2025-10-16 07:30 - 14:30 | Saint Paul RiverCentre, 175 Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul, MN, 55102, United States
The Minnesota Humanities Center will be at the annual MEA Conference this year — stop by our table to connect with us and explore resources to bring more diverse voices and perspectives into your classroom. Enter our drawing for a chance to win books and say hello — we’d love to see you!
We’ll be highlighting:

Native American Lives book series – engaging biographies for young readers that center Native stories.
Navigating the U.S. History Eras: Content, Pedagogy, and Inquiry in the Classroom – a new online series supporting history educators with content-rich, inquiry-based approaches.
Reconstruction Destructed: The Most Misunderstood Period in American History – the latest film in the “Juneteenth Reckoning with Slavery” series.

We’ll also be sharing more about our broader work and resources for educators.
The MEA Conference is organized by Education Minnesota. It is the state’s largest professional development event for teachers, offering a full day of workshops, networking, and classroom resources.
Exhibits: 7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
General session: 9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
Workshops: 10:45 a.m.-4:15 p.m.
Registration
Free and open to Education Minnesota members and students only. Registration through Education Minnesota is required to attend.
Registration Questions: meaconference@edmn.org
Register Now

Fosston - Sketches of Minnesota
2025-10-18 17:00 - 20:30 | Firefly Center of Art and Wellbeing, 102 S Kaiser Ave, Fosston, 56542, United States
Join the Minnesota Humanities Center, Danger Boat Productions, and Firefly Center of Art and Wellbeing for the Sketches of Minnesota civic improv comedy tour! These free events use laughter and comedy to celebrate Minnesota communities, promote dialogue, bridge divides, and help find ways to work constructively across differences in today’s political environment.
Beginning with a catered meal, these gatherings invite audience members to share what makes their town great, what they think people get wrong about it, what local divisions concern them, and what future they imagine. An improv comedy troupe listens in on the conversations, takes everything they heard from residents, and brings it to life on stage through entirely unscripted improv comedy theater.

5:00–6:00 PM: Doors open / Community hour
6:00–7:15 PM: Dinner
7:15–8:00 PM: Performances
8:00–8:30 PM: Talkback

Host Partner: Firefly Center of Art and Wellbeing
The work of the Minnesota Humanities Center is to create a stronger Minnesota by increasing our understanding of the beauty, wisdom, and stories of its people. Through partnerships, we facilitate the spaces, like Sketches of Minnesota, that seek to build connections and deepen understanding of ourselves and our communities in pursuit of a more just society.
Registration
This event is free but registration is required.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

Edina - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-10-21 18:30 - 20:30 | Edina Mann Theatre, 3911 W. 5th St., Edina, MN, 55424, United States
To understand the challenges African Americans still face in being seen as full citizens in America today, it is important for us to understand the origin story of the path of formerly enslaved people becoming citizens. The past is not dead; it is not even really the past.
This film, created with our movie production partner OMG Studios, features Federal Minnesota District Court Judge Jerry Blackwell, author of Just Mercy and prominent civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Macalester University Professor Duchess Harris, and a cameo by Minnesota’s First Lady of Civil Rights, Dr. Josie Johnson.
K-12 educators will receive 2 clock hours.
Registration
This screening is part of the Twin Cities Film Festival (TCFF). Tickets must be purchased through TCFF.
Register Now

Online - Building Questioning Across the Social Studies Disciplines
2025-10-22 07:30 - 08:30 | https://www.mnhum.org/event/online-building-questioning-across-the-social-studies-disciplines/
Develop strategies for fostering strong questioning skills across the five strands of social studies. Examine a discipline-specific question and how it supports deeper inquiry and critical thinking. We will consider strengthening both teacher questioning and supports for developing student questioning in the inquiry process, as well.
The Minnesota Department of Education in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center will host virtual and in-person sessions to support planning for and implementation of the 2021 K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies monthly during the 2025-26 school year. These monthly sessions are open to anyone with building or district-level responsibilities for curriculum planning and development in all social studies content areas, including curriculum directors, department leads, and teachers. Pre-registration is required for in-person sessions.
Virtual sessions will have content similar to in-person sessions, and whenever possible will feature the same speakers.
In-person sessions will be an hour longer than virtual sessions and will allow time for supported collaborative work and networking.
While districts are encouraged to have a representative at each monthly session, either in-person or virtual, participants do not need to commit to attending all nine sessions. Participants are also welcome to attend either session type throughout the year, as is best suited to their needs and schedule.
K-12 educators will receive 1 clock hour.
Registration
Registration Questions: brittany.rawson-haeg@state.mn.us
Register Now

Minneapolis - Building Questioning Across the Social Studies Disciplines
2025-10-23 09:00 - 11:00 | Minnesota Department of Education, 400 NE Stinson Blvd, Minneapolis, MN, 55413, United States
Develop strategies for fostering strong questioning skills across the five strands of social studies. Examine a discipline-specific question and how it supports deeper inquiry and critical thinking. We will consider strengthening both teacher questioning and supports for developing student questioning in the inquiry process, as well.
The Minnesota Department of Education in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center will host virtual and in-person sessions to support planning for and implementation of the 2021 K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies monthly during the 2025-26 school year. These monthly sessions are open to anyone with building or district-level responsibilities for curriculum planning and development in all social studies content areas, including curriculum directors, department leads, and teachers. Pre-registration is required for in-person sessions.
Virtual sessions will have content similar to in-person sessions, and whenever possible will feature the same speakers.
In-person sessions will be an hour longer than virtual sessions and will allow time for supported collaborative work and networking.
While districts are encouraged to have a representative at each monthly session, either in-person or virtual, participants do not need to commit to attending all nine sessions. Participants are also welcome to attend either session type throughout the year, as is best suited to their needs and schedule.
K-12 educators will receive 2 clock hours.
Registration
Registration Questions: brittany.rawson-haeg@state.mn.us
Register Now

St. Paul – Fall Metro Indian Education Gathering
2025-10-23 11:00 - 13:30 | Minnesota Humanities Event Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Join us for the Fall Metro Indian Education Gathering hosted at the Minnesota Humanities Center. Anyone connected to American Indian Education and/or American Indian students are welcome to attend. Lunch will be served potluck style. A main dish will be provided. Please register so we can plan accordingly and bring a side dish or dessert to share!
The agenda will include:

Byron Ninham: Community Outreach Miin – Program Updates
MDE Indian Education – Updates from Annie Huberty
TNEC Update to include PD for 2025-25 – Beth Tepper
Compass/Equitable Access AI Specialist – Jodie Sheets
Free Course Offerings
Tony Drews/Tiwahe Foundation/American Indian Family Empowerment program/youth scholarships
ISD622 American Indian Education new curriculum website

If you have questions about the session and agenda, please contact Robin Nelson at rnelson4@isd622.org.
About the Metro Indian Education Gathering
The Metro Indian Education Gathering is a group of urban American Indian Educators that come together on a regular basis, 2-3 times a year to share ideas and discuss challenges while celebrating successes. We create a space for networking and access to people who can help navigate the rules and regulations governing American Indian Education programs. This group has been meeting since January 2013.
Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT HAS CLOSED

Minneapolis - 50th Anniversary Joint Commemoration Immersive Digital Experience
2025-10-25 10:00 - 17:00 | Royalston Square, 501 Royalston Ave, Minneapolis, 55405, United States
Walk through a history of the shared – similar yet very different – journeys of the Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese communities, and Minnesota’s U.S. Vietnam Veterans, as they navigated war, refugee camps, and their eventual new lives in the United States. Floor to ceiling images allow for an immersive experience that will transport you, educate you, and offer a new perspective on the resilience of these communities. Recommended for children older than 10.

https://www.mnhum.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/immersive_promo.mp4
This event is part of the 50th Anniversary Joint Commemoration programming recognizing the end of the Vietnam War, Secret War in Laos, and Southeast Asian conflict
Learn More

Ottertail - Sketches of Minnesota
2025-10-27 17:00 - 20:30 | Thumper Pond Resort, 300 Thumper Lodge Rd, Ottertail, MN, 56571, United States
“Otter Tail County: Bring out your inner otter in the land of 1,048 lakes”
Join the Minnesota Humanities Center, Danger Boat Productions, and New York Mills Arts Retreat and Regional Cultural Center for the Sketches of Minnesota civic improv comedy tour! These free events use laughter and comedy to celebrate Minnesota communities, promote dialogue, bridge divides, and help find ways to work constructively across differences in today’s political environment.
Beginning with a catered meal, these gatherings invite audience members to share what makes their town great, what they think people get wrong about it, what local divisions concern them, and what future they imagine. An improv comedy troupe listens in on the conversations, takes everything they heard from residents, and brings it to life on stage through entirely unscripted improv comedy theater.

5:00–6:00 PM: Doors open / Community hour
6:00–7:15 PM: Dinner
7:15–8:00 PM: Performances
8:00–8:30 PM: Talkback

Host Partner: New York Mills Arts Retreat and Regional Cultural Center
The work of the Minnesota Humanities Center is to create a stronger Minnesota by increasing our understanding of the beauty, wisdom, and stories of its people. Through partnerships, we facilitate the spaces, like Sketches of Minnesota, that seek to build connections and deepen understanding of ourselves and our communities in pursuit of a more just society.
Registration
This event is free but registration is required.
Register Now

Pedagogy Session – Eras 1 & 2: Indigenous Histories, Settler Colonialism, and Atlantic Slavery
2025-10-30 16:00 - 17:30 | Online
This pedagogy session will draw on content and sources from both Era 1 and Era 2 of the Navigating U.S. History Eras series. Participants will explore the histories of America’s first peoples before European contact, as well as the development of the institution of slavery and multiple perspectives on European colonization and early American society. Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Social Studies Specialist Brittany Rawson-Haeg and experienced classroom educators will lead this hands-on workshop supporting high school U.S. History teachers in designing inquiry-based, standards-aligned units.
All Pedagogy Sessions will be conducted via Zoom. Educators who participate in all Pedagogy Sessions will leave the year with a complete U.S. History course aligned to the new standards.
Educators are invited to participate in companion Content Sessions.
Registration
Pedagogy Sessions are designed for high school U.S. History teachers and may also be relevant for 5th and 7th grade educators. Educators are welcome to register for individual sessions that align with their interests and schedules. Join us for one or more sessions throughout the year.
This event is free but registration is required. Separate registration is required for each offering.
Registration Questions: Brittany.Rawson-Haeg@state.mn.us
Register Now
This offering is part of Navigating the U.S. History Eras: Content, Pedagogy, and Inquiry in the Classroom is a yearlong professional learning opportunity supporting implementation of Minnesota’s 2021 K–12 Academic Standards in Social Studies presented by MHC and MDE.

St. Paul - 50th Joint Commemoration Community Events
2025-11-01 12:00 - 19:00, 2025-11-02 10:00 - 17:00 | Union Depot, 214 4th St E, St. Paul, 55101, United States
Enjoy food concessions, craft vendors, entertainment, exhibits, artifacts, and much more, representing Minnesota’s vibrant Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese communities, and Vietnam War era Veterans from their experiences in 1970s Southeast Asia to refugee camps and their harrowing journeys to Minnesota.
Schedule of Performances

Saturday, November 1

12:00p.m. to 12:30p.m. – National anthems (Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese, United States)

12:30p.m. to 2:00p.m. – “America’s Secret War | Minnesota Remembers Vietnam” (Twin Cities PBS) film screening followed by a moderated panel conversation

2:00p.m. to 2:15p.m. – Lam Mahasay Dance, Lao Culture Dance Fashion MN, traditional Lao dance

2:15p.m. to 2:30p.m. – Ánh Hà, Vietnamese musical instruments

2:30p.m. to 3:00p.m. – Larry Johnson, 11 Times on the Vietnam Wall, storytelling

3:00p.m. to 3:15p.m. – Simon Ecklund, original music, vocal performance

3:15p.m. to 3:30p.m. – Open

3:30p.m. to 4:00p.m. – Trần Thị Minh Phước & Viet Youth Storytellers Troupe, storytelling

4:00p.m. to 4:15p.m. – Lao Culture Dance Fashion MN, Ket Insisiengmay, vocal performance

4:15p.m. to 4:30p.m. – Open

4:30p.m. to 4:45p.m. – Yan Roeun, One Man Band

4:45p.m. to 5:00p.m. – Ánh Hà, Vietnamese musical instruments

5:00p.m. to 5:15p.m. – Gigi Yau, vocal performance

5:15p.m. to 5:30p.m. – Open

5:30p.m. to 6:00p.m. – Ya Rath Official, Ya Rath and Rothana Seng, traditional Cambodian musical instruments and vocal performance

6:00p.m. to 6:05p.m. – Charles Yang, Hmong vocal performance

6:05p.m. to 6:10p.m. – Chee Nou, Hmong vocal performance

6:10p.m. to 6:15p.m. – Ryan Lee, Hmong vocal performance

6:15p.m. to 6:30p.m. – J2Smooth, Hmong vocal performance

6:30p.m. to 6:45p.m. – Sun Moon & J.I.M. Music, Hmong vocal performance

Sunday, November 2

10:00a.m. to 10:30a.m. – National anthems (Cambodian, Lao, Vietnamese, United States)

10:30a.m. to 10:45a.m. – Faith Xiongblaxang, Hmong vocal performance

10:45a.m. to 11:00a.m. – Wattanak Dance Troupe, classical Cambodian dance

11:00a.m. to 12:30p.m. – Moderated Veteran Panel Conversation

12:30p.m. to 12:45p.m. – Narate Keys, Khmer poetry and storytelling

12:45p.m. to 1:00p.m. – Open

1:00p.m. to 1:30p.m. – Hippee Song Revival, David West vocal performance

1:30p.m. to 3:00p.m. – “And a Time to Heal” (Twin Cities PBS) film screening followed by a moderated panel conversation

3:00p.m. to 3:15p.m. – Lao Culture Dance Fashion MN, Ket Insisiengmay, vocal performance

3:15p.m. to 3:30p.m. – “Aries” and “NkaujHmoob Ci”, Hmong traditional dance

3:30p.m. to 3:45p.m. – NewSONG, Nancy Thor, musical instruments

3:45p.m. to 4:00p.m. – Open

4:00p.m. to 4:15p.m. – Tu Bi Tu, Vietnamese Dragon Dance

4:15p.m. to 4:30p.m. – Official Lina Lee, Hmong vocal performance

4:30p.m. to 4:45p.m. – Saint Lydia, Lydia Yang vocal performance

Vendors

cacTEA House
Dearest Baker
Hello Boba
Jaidee Food Company
Jasmine

Kruncy Munchies
Mochinut
Oppa Sweets Cotton Candy
Papaya Witch
Ruam Mit

Ao dai Boutiques MN
Gaginang Greetings
TAKL Insurance
Ybeauty Nails

This event is part of the 50th Joint Commemoration programming recognizing the end of the Vietnam War, Secret War in Laos, and Southeast Asian conflict.
Learn More

Rochester - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-11-01 13:00 - 14:30 | Historic Chateau Theater, 15 1st Street Southwest, Rochester, MN, 55902, United States

Online Content Session - Era Three: Freedom, Unfreedom, and Revolution
2025-11-05 16:00 - 17:30 | Online
Analyze revolutionary movements and founding documents to understand how ideas of freedom and justice evolved in the United States. Led by Dr. Daina Ramey Berry and moderated by Dr. Katharine Gerbner, this session will provide deep historical context, source analysis, and thematic framing.

View Dr. Daina Ramey Berry’s Bio

Dr. Daina Ramey Berry is Professor of History and Michael Douglas Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She came to Santa Barbara in August 2022 after serving as the Oliver H. Radkey Regents Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at The University of Texas. She is an internationally recognized scholar of the enslaved and a specialist on gender and slavery and Black women’s history in the United States. Professor Berry completed her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in African American Studies and U.S. History at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Berry is the award-winning author and editor of six books and numerous scholarly articles. Her most recent book, A Black Women’s History of the United States, won the 2021 Susan Koppelman Award for the Best Book in Feminist Studies, was a 2021 NAACP Finalist for Literary Non-Fiction, and received honorable mention for the 2021 Darlene Clark Hine Book Award sponsored by the Organization of American Historians. Her other book, The Price for their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation, received the Phyllis Wheatley Award for Scholarly Research from the Sons and Daughters of the US Middle Passage, the 2018 Best Book Prize from the Society for the History of the Early American Republic, and the 2018 Hamilton Book Prize from the University Co-op for the best book among UT Austin faculty. Berry’s book was also a finalist for the 2018 Frederick Douglass Book Prize awarded by Yale University and the Gilder Lehrman Institute. She is completing two other contracted books, The Myths of Slavery (Beacon Press) and a biography of Anna Murray Douglass (Yale University Press).

All Content Sessions will be conducted via Zoom and a Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)-hosted Canvas learning community. Each session’s lectures and discussions will be recorded and registered participants will receive access to the Canvas course with session recordings, curated resources, and collaborative planning tools.

High school U.S. History teachers and 5th and 7th grade educators are invited to participate in companion Pedagogy Sessions.

Registration
Content Sessions are open to all K–12 educators interested in historical content and source-based instruction. Educators are welcome to register for individual sessions that align with their interests and schedules. Join us for one or more sessions throughout the year.

This event is free but registration is required. Separate registration is required for each offering.

Registration Questions: Brittany.Rawson-Haeg@state.mn.us

Register Now

This offering is part of Navigating the U.S. History Eras: Content, Pedagogy, and Inquiry in the Classroom is a yearlong professional learning opportunity supporting implementation of Minnesota’s 2021 K–12 Academic Standards in Social Studies presented by MHC and MDE.

St. Paul - 2025 Event Center Annual Open House
2025-11-06 11:30 - 13:30 | Minnesota Humanities Event Center, 987 Ivy Avenue East, Saint Paul, MN, 55106, United States
Gather your colleagues and friends and stop in to tour our warm and elegant event spaces, then have lunch on us! You will network with other planners, and enjoy a sampling in-house catering options from our incredible chef.
Surrounded by parkland yet minutes from downtown St. Paul, you’ll feel connected to the city but free of its distractions. We have lots of natural light flooding our flexible meeting spaces and have 15 cozy private overnight lodging rooms onsite. Our historic Event Center invites both lively discussion and quiet reflection, providing the perfect setting for a successful event!
Registration
The open house is free to attend, but registration is strongly encouraged.
Register Now

Red Wing - Art and War: A Conversation
2025-11-06 18:00 - 19:30 | Anderson Center at Tower View, 163 Tower View Drive, Red Wing, MN, 55066, United States
Join the Minnesota Humanities Center and Anderson Center for a moderated conversation with artists who either focus on the representation of war and armed conflict in their art, or who have created art that addressed these subjects. Artists will discuss their creative output, what it means to interpret experiences of warfare, what happens in the act of interpretation and artistic creation, and what the viewing public can learn from interaction with and communal discussion of these works.
About the Artists
Mary Horgan is an artist and retired Staff Sergeant (U.S. Army). Among multiple activations, she served in the Iraq War in 2006. Horgan’s art confronts the harsh realities of war and the honorable pursuit of peace for all. Since retiring, art has become her tool for healing, peace, and resistance. Horgan’s work includes the memorial to women Veterans, “You Will Not Erase Us,” commissioned by the City of Ramsey in Minnesota. She also creates a range of two and three-dimensional art pieces that explore themes of conflict, survival, resistance, nature, beauty, and truth-telling.
Besides her artistic work, Horgan is a mother and grandmother, and caretaker of animals and gardens. She is passionate about our nation’s democracy and creates work rooted in justice, resilience, and deep personal truth and recovery.
Justin Newhall is an American artist currently based in Minneapolis. His work has been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Royal Academy of Arts (London), Galerie Lichtblick (Cologne), Museum of Art at Rhode Island School of Design (Providence), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and Jen Bekman Gallery (New York), among others.
Newhall is the recipient of artist fellowships from the McKnight Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, and Jerome Foundation. His work is represented in public and private collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Walker Art Center, and George Eastman House (New York).
Megan Rye is a visual artist and teacher. She was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1975, and currently lives in Minneapolis. Through paintings, drawings, photography, and artists books, Rye uses visual storytelling to explore themes of migration, citizenship, remembrance, war, and democracy. Rye’s first significant body of work, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” was a series of paintings based on photographs Rye’s brother took while serving in Iraq. This project debuted at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2007), and was Rye’s first solo exhibit in New York City at Forum Gallery (2011). The aftermath of the Iraq War continues to reverberate, and the paintings have been studied and exhibited widely, including a recent exhibition at the Kunsthalle Emden (Germany).
Rye’s work has been sustained by significant support from the Bush Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board.
About the Moderator
Monica Moses Haller is an artist whose work spans photography, writing, sound, and focuses on personal details that explore violence and possibilities within social and environmental systems. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Moses Haller has exhibited and lectured at locations including Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig; and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Her artist books are collected by intuitions ranging from the Tate Modern, London, to MOMA, New York. Moses Haller works internationally and is based in her hometown of Minneapolis, where she is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Department of Art.
This program is presented in partnership with Anderson Center at Tower View, a Red Wing-based arts and humanities organization that celebrates the imagination and support the development of new arts and ideas through residencies, studios, and public engagement.
Registration
This event is free to attend. Registration is encouraged. Light refreshments will be served at the event.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

St. Cloud - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-11-08 13:00 - 14:30 | Atwood Memorial Center, St. Cloud University, 720 4th Ave. South, St. Cloud, MN, 56301, United States

St. Paul - Reconstruction Destructed Film & Community Conversation
2025-11-09 13:00 - 14:30 | Wilder Foundation, 451 Lexington Pkwy N., St. Paul, 55104, United States

Online - Beyond Learning from Place: Featuring Native Governance Center
2025-11-13 12:30 - 15:00 | https://www.mnhum.org/event/online-beyond-learning-from-place-featuring-native-governance-center/
Beyond Learning from Place workshops offer participants supplemental learning opportunities after attending a Learning from Place experience. This session is designed to support Bdote trip participants as well as anyone seeking guidance in developing authentic, respectful relationships with Native Nations.
We are excited to partner with Native Governance Center to host this Beyond Learning from Place online workshop.
Workshop Overview:
Action Planning and Engagement for Accomplices
Join Native Governance Center, a Native-led nonprofit, for a practical and interactive session on building authentic partnerships and taking actionable next steps. This workshop will equip participants with tools for creating supportive action steps using Native Governance Center’s action planning framework. Attendees will also learn how to prepare themselves and understand protocol before partnering with Native Nations. While rooted in working with Native Nations and communities, these tools can also support meaningful engagement with other groups.
Expect real-life examples and plenty of opportunities for discussion in a welcoming, beginner-friendly space.
Learning Objectives
Participants will:

Deepen their understanding of how to prepare for and approach partnerships with Native Nations, with principles that can inform engagement in other contexts.
Gain practical tools for developing personal or organizational action steps using NGC’s action planning framework.
Exchange ideas with fellow participants in small groups to refine and inspire their own action steps.

Native Governance Center Presenters:

Cree Rose Dueker (Chippewa Cree Tribe): Program Manager for Community Engagement
Jessica Glidden (Boise Forte Band of Chippewa): Program Manager for Leadership Development

K-12 Educators will receive 2.5 clock hours.
Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

Online Pedagogy Session - Era Three: Freedom, Unfreedom, and Revolution
2025-11-13 16:00 - 17:30 | Online
Analyze revolutionary movements and founding documents to understand how ideas of freedom and justice evolved in the United States. Using content and sources from Dr. Daina Ramey Berry, Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Social Studies Specialist Brittany Rawson-Haeg and experienced classroom educators will lead this hands-on workshop supporting high school U.S. History teachers in designing inquiry-based, standards-aligned units.
All Pedagogy Sessions will be conducted via Zoom. Educators who participate in all Pedagogy Sessions will leave the year with a complete U.S. History course aligned to the new standards.
Educators are invited to participate in companion Content Sessions.
Registration
Pedagogy Sessions are designed for high school U.S. History teachers and may also be relevant for 5th and 7th grade educators. Educators are welcome to register for individual sessions that align with their interests and schedules. Join us for one or more sessions throughout the year.
This event is free but registration is required. Separate registration is required for each offering.
Registration Questions: Brittany.Rawson-Haeg@state.mn.us
Register Now
This offering is part of Navigating the U.S. History Eras: Content, Pedagogy, and Inquiry in the Classroom is a yearlong professional learning opportunity supporting implementation of Minnesota’s 2021 K–12 Academic Standards in Social Studies presented by MHC and MDE.

Online – Teaching Bdote Educator Workshop
2025-11-15 09:30 - 11:30 | https://www.mnhum.org/event/online-teaching-bdote-educator-workshop/
The Teaching Bdote Educator Workshop is designed for educators who have attended Learning from Place: Bdote and are preparing to incorporate the experience into their classroom or lead their own classroom field trip. Whether you are looking for a refresher or preparing for your first teacher-led trip, this workshop will provide the guidance, resources, and confidence you need.
Offered in collaboration with Saint Paul Public Schools, this interactive session supports educators in aligning Bdote field trips with the 2021 Minnesota Social Studies Standards and the inquiry-based model of learning. Facilitators will also address the common questions and anxieties that non-Indigenous educators may experience when teaching Dakota history, grounding the work in Dakota voices and perspectives.
Facilitators include current classroom educators who have recently led Bdote field trips and Ramona Kitto Stately (Santee Dakota). Ramona, MHC’s primary lead for Learning from Place: Bdote, provides cultural expertise and guidance on teaching Dakota history with care.
Participants will:

Learn from classroom teachers who have recently led Bdote field trips.
Hear candid reflections from non-Indigenous educators about teaching Bdote.
Gain insights from Ramona Kitto Stately on centering Dakota knowledge and perspectives.
Access resources and lesson materials to support both classroom learning and field trip planning.

Intended Audience: While all are welcome, this workshop is especially geared toward teachers in grades 4–7.
K-12 Educators will receive 2 clock hours.
Registration
SPPS teachers: Register using discount code SPPS25 to waive the fee.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org | MHC Cancellation Policy
Register Now

Rochester - Headscarf Story Circle Series
2025-11-15 12:00 - 14:30 | Rochester Area Economic Development Inc (RAEDI), 221 1st Ave SW, Suite 600, Rochester, 55902, United States
The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) is excited to host Headscarf Story Circle – a series of offerings that recognize the strength and resiliency of women. Join us for our first of three offerings in Rochester as we gather together through the shared connection of the headscarf and its complexity. “Women Balancing Entrepreneurship and their own Wellness” is the theme.
This event is co-hosted by Rochester Women Magazine with Tawonda Burk, Publisher/Owner and features inspiring speakers from the Rochester community.
The Host Partner: Tawonda Burks, ABD, MBA is an educator, entrepreneur, and community leader dedicated to advancing economic opportunity and equity. She is the owner and publisher of Rochester Women Magazine, founder of the Minority Owned Business Foundation, and CEO of ELOCINA. Through her work, Tawonda champions entrepreneurship, leadership, and wealth-building across Southeast Minnesota.
The Keynote Speaker: Psalms T. Frye is the Founder and Owner of Peace and Compassion Birth Services, LLC and an advocate for black maternal health justice. Psalms has been a DONA certified birth doula for 5 years and is also a certified lactation counselor (CLC). She holds a Master’s in Business Administration and a Master’s in Theological Studies from Liberty University. She is married to Sidney Frye I and is a homeschool mom to their six children. Psalms enjoys hiking at National Parks with her family, reading books on parenting, and learning new things about birth that she can share with her clients to help them have an empowered birth experience.
Speaker: Manal Abbadi is a Senior Program Coordinator at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she assists with the development and implementation of evidence-based, community-informed strategies aimed at advancing cancer education, prevention, and research participation among populations across the Midwest. With a background in legal advocacy and a strong foundation in community-based programming, she specializes in stakeholder engagement, health equity, and project management. Her work focuses on building sustainable, trust-based partnerships that address cancer disparities and ensure community voices are embedded throughout the research continuum. Manal is a mother to young children, who keep her active and engaged in their daily activities.
Speaker: Asha Aden is a Rochester resident committed to equity, love, and justice. She graduated from Luther College in 2020 with degrees in political science and religion. As an engaged member of the Rochester community, Asha is passionate about intersectional and interfaith work, which form the foundation of her activism and personal belief. She is committed to continuous learning and unlearning.
Guests are encouraged to wear a headscarf or head dress that is symbolic of anything from a fashion statement, cultural identity, health related, or memories, and beliefs.
Learn More About Headscarf Story Circles
Learn more about Headscarf Story Circles program in this video produced by the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Registration
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
Register Now

Staples - K-8 Social Studies Standards Workshop
2025-11-18 08:30 - 14:30 | Sourcewell, 202 12th Street NE, Staples, MN, 56479, United States
We invite K-8 social studies educators to a workshop that will provide an overview of the new 2021 Minnesota social studies standards. This workshop includes time for teachers to work together to bundle benchmarks into cohesive, interdisciplinary instructional units. Participants will also have work time to start aligning these units with existing resources and primary sources.
A collaboration between Sourcewell and the Minnesota Humanities Center, this workshop will be led by Sourcewell education consultant Jen McLachlan and will feature Brittany Rawson Haeg, Social Studies Content Lead for the Minnesota Department of Education.
Workshop Leader
Jen McLachlan serves as an education consultant at Sourcewell, lending her expertise to programs such as ElevatePD, New Teacher Academy, and the Social Studies Network. With a background as a middle-level educator in both math and social studies, as well as serving on a school board, she is deeply passionate about empowering teachers to become innovators and catalysts for change.
Workshop Presenter
Brittany Rawson Haeg is the Social Studies Content Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. She began her teaching career as a high school social studies teacher in Brooklyn, New York. She taught middle and high school social studies in the Twin Cities. Prior to teaching, she was a staff assistant in the New York City Department of Education Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. She believes in the power of social studies education to help students develop greater empathy and understanding.
Registration
$60 per participant from districts in the five-county service area and partner schools; Comprehensive Package pricing: $6 per participant; $80 per participant from all other schools; Lunch provided.
For more information and to register, visit the Sourcewell event listing.

Online - Digging Into Disciplinary Sources K-12
2025-11-19 07:30 - 08:30 | https://www.mnhum.org/event/online-digging-into-disciplinary-sources-k-12/
Learn how to identify, evaluate, and integrate disciplinary sources effectively. This session will provide strategies for engaging students with primary and secondary sources to develop their disciplinary literacy skills.
The Minnesota Department of Education, in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center, will host virtual and in-person sessions to support planning for and implementation of the 2021 K-12 Academic Standards in Social Studies, held monthly during the 2025–26 school year. These sessions are open to anyone with building or district-level responsibilities for curriculum planning and development in all social studies content areas, including curriculum directors, department leads, and teachers. Pre-registration is required for in-person sessions.
Virtual sessions will have content similar to in-person sessions, and whenever possible will feature the same speakers.
In-person sessions will be an hour longer than virtual sessions and will allow time for supported collaborative work and networking.
While districts are encouraged to have a representative at each monthly session, either in-person or virtual, participants do not need to commit to attending all nine sessions. Participants are also welcome to attend either session type throughout the year, as is best suited to their needs and schedule.
K-12 educators will receive 1 clock hour.
Registration
Registration Questions: brittany.rawson-haeg@state.mn.us
Register Now
