Minnesota's Human Rights Stories Oral History Project Preserves Minnesota’s Legacy of Human Rights Activism
Minnesota has served as a hub for human rights activists and organizations, playing an outsized role in the international human rights movement. At the same time, Minnesota has also fallen short in upholding human rights standards, and activists have had to navigate setbacks and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of human rights activism, both within the state and across the globe. In 2023, human rights activist and Human Rights Program Director Emerita Barbara Frey founded The Minnesota's Human Rights Stories Oral History Project (MHRO) to archive these complex and informative histories. The MHRO records interviews with Minnesota-based human rights advocates, including discussions of narrators’ early influences and catalysts for engaging in human rights work, origins of their campaigns or organizations, biggest achievements and setbacks, strategic decision-making, advocacy campaigns and tactics, funding opportunities and challenges, global partnerships, impacts, long-term legacy, and more.
One of the main goals of the MHRO is to preserve the memories of Minnesotans, and individuals who have conducted a significant portion of their activism in Minnesota, who are recognized as leaders in the field of international human rights from the 1970s until today. These interviews are part of the larger Minnesota Human Rights Archive (MHRA), an umbrella archive of materials related to Minnesota's human rights history, which includes the papers and materials of various Minnesota-based human rights activists and non-profits. Both the MHRO and MHRA are housed in the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) in Elmer L. Andersen Library.
Understanding the Present and Building a Better Future
Bella Minahan (CLA ‘25) has been working on the MHRO project since spring 2023, starting as an intern and continuing her role as a researcher ever since. Minahan conducts background research for interviews with narrators, creating a timeline of their life and activism. After the interview, Minahan reviews the transcript and refines the video footage, then sends the product to the narrator to get their feedback. Once the interview is finalized, Minahan uploads it to the archive.
These oral histories provide valuable knowledge and guidance for future generations. They are a primary source for scholars researching human rights movements, especially those that were founded before the Internet. MHRO interviews fill that knowledge gap and bolster the physical materials being collected by the Minnesota Human Rights Archive, providing human rights scholars with a more robust collection of information. These stories, told in the activists' own words, add depth and context that inform and inspire human rights activists. “Oral history is important because it ensures we capture the voices of the people who have shaped where we are today,” Minahan says. “Being able to access stories that reflect real challenges, struggles and resilience helps us understand our history on a more personal level.”
Today’s human rights defenders can apply tactics of past movements to the human rights challenges we face today. Listeners can also access and learn about the context that surrounds a person’s activism work– information that may not be available anywhere else– so that they can compare their experiences and adjust their own advocacy strategies.
Passing Down Knowledge and Skills to Future Human Rights Defenders
The oral history project has offered students the opportunity to strengthen their professional skills while contributing to a meaningful resource. “My experience working on the oral history project has been incredibly rewarding,” says Daisy Larson, a student research assistant. “This project has helped me build skills that are directly transferable to any future career.”
Minahan’s experience opened her eyes to the breadth of ways she can be a human rights practitioner and advocate for the issues she cares about. She has interacted with a range of narrators through the MHRO, from an economist to theater directors. “It’s really interesting to see all of the different ways that you can engage with human rights, no matter what your educational background is or your career path,” says Minahan. Her work on this project has piqued her interest in not just oral history, but historical preservation of human rights and social justice movements.
While activists’ experience and problem-solving approaches are unique to them, many of the challenges, strategies, solutions, and knowledge are transferable to today’s human rights activism. Minahan shares how activists mediate their past experiences through the lens of today. “A lot of these people have been practitioners since the 70s and 80s, but they have continued their careers and continued their own learning and understanding of human rights,” she said.
Narrators’ personal storytelling, including their challenges and redirections, can be a source of inspiration for today’s human rights defenders. The stories of human rights practitioners are much more than just the accomplishments they are most well-known for. They include struggle, collaboration, and creativity. These practitioners made progress because they persisted. Their stories can remind us that even when our efforts do not feel like enough, and we are discouraged, we are part of a bigger story and movement– one that is intertwined with and sustained by those who came before us and those who are yet to join the long-standing, multifaceted, collective effort to protect every person’s right to live with dignity, freedom, and equality.
