Known initially as a kindly physician, Doc Ames led the city into corruption during four terms as mayor just before 1900.[24] The gangster Kid Cann was famous for bribery and intimidation during the 1930s and 1940s.[25] The city made dramatic changes to rectify discrimination as early as 1886 when Martha Ripley founded Maternity Hospital for both married and unmarried mothers.[26]
When the country's fortunes turned during the Great Depression, the violent Teamsters Strike of 1934 resulted in laws acknowledging workers' rights.[27] A lifelong civil rights activist and union supporter, mayor Hubert Humphrey helped the city establish fair employment practices and a human relations council that interceded on behalf of minorities by 1946.[28] In the 1950s, about 1.6% of the population of Minneapolis was nonwhite.[29] Minneapolis contended with white supremacy, participated in desegregation and the civil rights movement, and in 1968 was the birthplace of the American Indian Movement.[30]
Minneapolis was a "particularly virulent" site of anti-semitism until 1950. A hate group known as the Silver Legion of America, or Silver Shirts, recruited members in the city and held meetings there around 1936 to 1938.[31] The Jewish Free Employment Bureau tried to help victims of economic discrimination, with limited success. In 1938, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas
was established to combat rising anti-semitism, fighting against
hate-filled leaflets and anti-Jewish remarks, while also attempting to
expose discrimination by real estate agents and employers who attempted
to subvert anti-discrimination laws. After years of discrimination
towards Jewish doctors, the Jewish community raised funds to create the Mount Sinai Hospital,
which opened in 1951. It was the first private non-sectarian hospital
in the community to accept members of minority races on its medical
staff.[32][33]
During the 1950s and 1960s, as part of urban renewal, the city razed about 200 buildings across 25 city blocks (roughly 40% of downtown), destroying the Gateway District and many buildings with notable architecture, including the Metropolitan Building.
Efforts to save the building failed but are credited with sparking
interest in (but not always succeeding in) historic preservation in the
state.[34]
Mississippi riverfront and Saint Anthony Falls in 1915. At left, Pillsbury, power plants and the Stone Arch Bridge. Today the Minnesota Historical Society's Mill City Museum is in the Washburn "A" Mill, across the river just to the left of the falls. At center left are Northwestern Consolidated mills. The tall building is Minneapolis City Hall. In the right foreground are Nicollet Island and the Hennepin Avenue Bridge.
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