MOORHEAD — As part of its Homecoming festivities, Minnesota State University Moorhead hosts a screening of the historical documentary, “The Brothers of Rondo,” Thursday night at the Gaede Stage, Roland Dille Center for the Arts.
Francis Sampah’s film looks at the lives of four men — Lewis Scott, Russel T. Balenger, Readus W. Fletcher, Carl Griffin — who came to MSUM in the late 1960s and early 1970s from the predominantly Black Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul.
They were among the first black students at MSUM and their tenure at the school overlapped with the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War.
Following the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Griffin pushed the campus and the community to support the Civil Rights Movement. Shortly after, Project E-Quality started, offering financial support on a needs basis for minority students at MSUM.
Griffin also started the Cultural Exchange Center and co-founded the Afro-American Friendship Organization.
In the spring of 1968, Carl Griffin gives a speech at MSUM following the death of Martin Luther King Jr.
(Photo courtesy MSUM)
Griffin would go on to be the first Black reporter at The Forum and later worked for other news organizations. Scott returned to St. Paul and worked as an educator and administrator in schools. Balengar served on the St. Paul City Council and became a community activist, Fletcher worked for the city of St. Paul for more than 30 years.
Griffin organized the brothers of Rondo group and arranged for the men to speak at MSUM in February of 2023 about their experiences and the history of the Rondo neighborhood, which was partially demolished from 1956 to 1968 to make way for Interstate 94.
Griffin died just before that 2023 meeting.
There will be a reception from 6 to 6:30 followed by the film. After the screening, a discussion with Scott, Balenger, Fletcher and Griffin’s great-nephew, Juron Griffon, will be moderated by Caroline J. Sumlin.
The event is free and open to the public.
For almost 30 years John Lamb has been covering arts and entertainment in the Red River Valley. He started writing for the High Plains Reader in 1997 and moved to The Forum in 2002. He is an Annenberg fellow, an occasional judge for talent shows and food contestants and co-hosts the weekly “Gardening Together: The Podcast.” He’s rubbed shoulders with Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, drank with National Book Award winner Colm McCann, had coffee with Grammy-winning classical musician Peter Schickele and interviewed countless other artists, actors, musicians, writers and assorted interesting people. Contact John at [email protected].
