Black History

Black History Month Salute: George Bonga

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN-RECORDER — In 1802, George Bonga’s birth marked the beginning of Minnesota’s freed Black experience.

Published

6 years ago

February 25, 2019

Oakland Post

By MSR News Online

In honor of Black History Month, we’re sharing short clips highlighting the legacy and history of Blacks in Minnesota. This week, we salute George Bonga, Minnesota’s first African American resident to be born in Minnesota.

In 1802, George Bonga’s birth marked the beginning of Minnesota’s freed Black experience. Born near Duluth, he was the first documented Black person to be born in the territory of Minnesota. By 1850, he was only one of 14 Blacks counted in Minnesota’s 1850 territorial census.

Bonga’s father, Pierre, was a freed African slave and fur trader, and his mother, Ogibwayquay, was Ojibwe. Living close to the Canadian border, he and his siblings were educated in Quebec, where he became fluent in French in addition to English and Ojibwe.

He went on to follow in his father’s footsteps and got a license to trade, earning notoriety as an entrepreneur and voyageur.

He is most well-known, however, for his role in Minnesota’s first murder trial. In 1837, he was hired to track down a man accused of killing a man by the name of Alfred Aitkin. After less than a week of tracking, Bonga returned with Che-Ga Wa Skung, an Ojibwe man, tied to a sled, traveling 250 miles to bring him to Fort Snelling for trial.

Skung was eventually acquitted, as Aitkin was half-Ojibwe and not considered to be a White citizen. However, Bonga’s ability to brave Minnesota’s frigid January and his success tracking what another group had failed to do earned him great respect in the territory.

After the fur trade declined, he then began work as a wilderness guide and opened a lodge on Leech Lake with his wife. He also worked as a translator, helping to translate and negotiate treaties, and he became an outspoken advocate of Native Americans. In the late 1860s, he served as a witness to the signing of the treaty that created the White Earth Indian Reservation.

He died near Leech Lake in the mid-1870s. A small township, Bungo Township, was named after his family in Cass County.

For more info on George Bonga, visit bit.ly/2BHRejX.

This article originally appeared in Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

6 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.