Lewis Scott, St. Paul native who attended Moorhead State College (now MSUM) in the late 1960s and early 1970s, has good memories of passing through Fergus Falls by train as both a student and also as a railway employee.
“I worked as a porter from the Twin Cities to Chicago, back through the Twin Cities, to Seattle, Washington, and back to the Twin Cities,” says Scott.
This was an eight-day trip, and many times he doubled back out to make money for college when another crew member was sick.
“What a learning experience this was,” Scott recalls. “I remember Fergus Falls as such a lovely area, and I did some training at the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center as part of my speech pathology studies at Moorhead State.”
Scott, who now lives near Atlanta, Georgia, spoke on Feb. 27 at MSUM’s Gaede Stage in Moorhead along with two other African American St. Paul males who recalled their college days in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The evening gathering was held adjacent to the Center for the Arts (Dille Center) on the MSUM campus. A fourth speaker was the nephew of another late 1960s and early 1970s student (Carl Griffin) who passed away earlier in February 2023.
Scott spoke about growing up in the Rondo area of St. Paul along with Russell Balenger and Readus Fletcher. The Rondo African American neighborhood was demolished in the Twin Cities between 1956 and 1968 to make way for the construction of Interstate 94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Earlier in the day Scott and his wife, Graneze, met with Doug Safar and Dave Asleson of rural Vergas, Tom Hintgen of Fergus Falls and five other fraternity brothers dating back to 1970 at Moorhead State.
“MSUM really pulled out the red carpet for the Rondo brothers. However, Graneze and I both agree that our highlight was talking with my Phi Sigma Epsilon brothers,” Scott said.
Scott, after graduating from MSUM in 1973, was an educator and school administrator for close to 50 years, first in St. Paul and later in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
He provided many memories of being among the first African Americans at Moorhead State College in the late 1960s and early 1970s.”
“Dorm life was greatly appreciated and faculty and staff members at Moorhead State led to a great experience,” said Scott during the panel discussion at the Gaede Stage near the MSUM Center for the Arts.
Scott looks back fondly of his growing up years in the St. Paul Rondo neighborhood.
“It was a neighborhood of caring and well-educated people,” he said. “We were a neighborhood of dedicated workers who made family life a high priority. As kids we were encouraged to do our best while in school.”
His parents were among those who came to Minnesota after growing up in the deep south with segregation and Jim Crow laws designed to limit economic gains for African Americans.
“My father worked for the Great Northern Railroad,” Scott said. “Granted, we faced some racial issues in Minnesota but, generally, life was good.”
Scott said his parents instilled in him having a respect for others, all the while doing one’s best throughout life.
“My father met Moorhead State President Roland Dille who loved to travel by train along the Great Northern tracks between Fargo-Moorhead and the Twin Cities,” he said. “That’s one reason my father thought Moorhead State would be a good fit for me.”
All of the four Rondo residents from St. Paul managed to pay for their college educations at Moorhead State on their own. That was a reflection of the stable and hard-working black community in the Twin Cities.
Looking back, Scott and the other two panelists said campus life in the late 1960s and early 1970s was not easy. They pointed to unrest following the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, protests of the Vietnam War, civil rights issues, marijuana usage and other challenges.
“Through it all, many of us realized that the way to make positive change was to work within the system,” Scott said. “Look for creative solutions and solve problems together.”
