In Hibbing and Minneapolis--Bob A. Feldman
Channel: protestfolk
Date: 2016-10-28

An historical folk song from 2016 about some 20th-century hidden Minnesota people's history prior to 1961.
(lyrics)

(verse 1)
In Hibbing, Minnesota
Guess who owned a furniture store?
And guess whose grandfather
Owned the town theaters?
Rich whites owned its iron mine
And Greyhound's Jim Crow bus lines
In Hibbing and Minneapolis
The racist bells did chime.

(verse 2)
In Minneapolis, Minnesota
Pillsbury owned the City
And owned with lumber and milling trusts
The University
Rich whites controlled its politics
Its banks, mills and factories
In Hibbing and Minneapolis
Guess who lived in poverty?

(refrain)
Some people create myths
Or sell us fantasies
Others still fight for Freedom
And protest against Society.

(verse 3)
In Minneapolis, Minnesota
A Citizens Alliance tried
To bust the Teamsters Union
And break the drivers' strike
To keep an open shop
While keeping closed social clubs
In Hibbing and Minneapolis
That's how things were done.

(verse 4)
In Minneapolis, Minnesota
Some could not rent or own
A home in any neighborhood
Except in its Northern zone
And the jobless in Gateway District
Got bulldozed from Downtown
In Hibbing and Minneapolis
They didn't want the poor around. (refrain)

(verse 5)
In Minneapolis, Minnesota
No firm did hire you
If you grew up on the North Side
Or lived on Snelling Avenue
And professors Weinberg and Wiggins
Got fired from their politics
In Hibbing and Minneapolis
You couldn't be too leftist.

(verse 6)
In Hibbing and Minneapolis
Most whites just sang of love
And musicians showed off their skills
And competed for jobs in clubs
And those who were ambitious
Got big wealth in New York
Yet in Hibbing and Minneapolis
People still are out of work. (refrain)