During these decades most of Fargo-Moorhead’s original African American community were drawn to economic and cultural opportunities elsewhere, especially in the growing African American communities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. For many decades, the Black community was numerically small, but included some fascinating people.
The Great Migration
Between about 1910-70, roughly six million African Americans moved from the poverty and discrimination of the rural South to better opportunities in Northern and Midwestern cities. Called The Great Migration, this was one of the largest mass migrations of people in history. Although Fargo-Moorhead is far from the South, our agriculture-based economy and lack of factories meant few jobs were available to entice African American families to stay here.
In the early 1900s, the children of Fargo-Moorhead’s African American pioneers began moving away in search of better opportunities. Many moved to St. Paul-Minneapolis. By the end of World War II, all but a few families had left. For much of the 20th century, the African American community was few in number.
Between about 1910-70, roughly six million African Americans moved from the poverty and discrimination of the rural South to better opportunities in Northern and Midwestern cities. Called The Great Migration, this was one of the largest mass migrations of people in history. Although Fargo-Moorhead is far from the South, our agriculture-based economy and lack of factories meant few jobs were available to entice African American families to stay here.
In the early 1900s, the children of Fargo-Moorhead’s African American pioneers began moving away in search of better opportunities. Many moved to St. Paul-Minneapolis. By the end of World War II, all but a few families had left. For much of the 20th century, the African American community was few in number.
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Presence of the Klan
The 1920s saw a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan throughout America, Including Clay and Cass Counties. It was one of the many historic “White League” terrorist groups that emerged in the South after the Civil War, but were stamped out during Reconstruction in the 1870s. For generations after, however, the Daughters of the Confederacy successfully lobbied to get pro-Confederate “Lost Cause” propaganda into school history textbooks. The extremely popular films Birth of a Nation (1915) and Gone with the Wind (1939) glorified pro-Confederate racial violence and inspired the rebirth of the KKK. Chapters of this hate group formed across the country, including right here. At the same time that better-paying jobs enticed African Americans in Greater Minnesota to move to the Twin Cities, KKK terrorist cross burnings in Moorhead, Fergus Falls, and many other communities made Black families feel unsafe and unwelcome here. |
The Klan held an imitation ceremony in Moorhead at the Moorhead National Guard Armory in the 1920s.
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Cordelia Blount – Educator and College Administrator
Cordelia Blount was born in 1910, two years after her family moved to Moorhead. Her parents James and Elizabeth Blount valued education highly. As their friends and neighbors left Fargo-Moorhead, the Blounts remained to see Cordelia through her education. James worked as a janitor and porter to put Cordelia through Moorhead High School and college. In high school, Cordelia was active in the Wig and Mask Society (a performing arts club), a home economics club, the school’s speech team and was an accomplished pianist. After graduating in 1927, Ms. Blount attended Paine College in Augusta, Georgia, earned a Bachelor’s degree at the University of North Dakota, and a master’s degree in Literature from Atlanta University. In 1937, her parents returned to the state of their birth, Georgia, to be closer to Cordelia. Ms. Blount taught English at South Carolina State University and Paine College and retired as the assistant Dean of Women at Georgia State University. She was active in the League of Women Voters. Ms. Blount passed away in 1994. |
Ms. Blount was the first African American to graduate from Moorhead High School. Cho-Kio, 1927.
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Moorhead native, Cordelia Blount. Gillespie Studios Photo Collection, HCSCC.
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Fenwick H. Watkins - Passing as White?
Identity can be complicated. We know that there are people in our local history who, for a variety of reasons, tried to avoid being identified as Black. Some found it advantageous personally, professionally, and for safety, to identify as white. Fenwick Watkins may have been one of them. Fenwick Henri Watkins was born in 1885 in Burlington, Vermont, to an African American family. He studied Civil Engineering at the University of Vermont where he was a standout athlete in football, baseball and basketball. Fenwick Watkins was the first Black athlete of a predominantly white school to captain a college football team. After graduation, he moved to Fargo. With the exception of the 1930 Census, all known records about Fenwick Watkins list him as white while living in Fargo. He coached and led the sports program at Fargo College from 1909 to 1915. He entered the real estate business and coached part-time until 1920 when Fargo College closed. After one year as Assistant Coach at North Dakota Agricultural College (NDSU today), Watkins took over the athletic department at Concordia College where he remained until 1926. For a time, he worked for the Home Owners Loan Corporation, a program notorious across the country for refusing home loans to African Americans in certain neighborhoods - a practice known as Redlining. He continued in the real estate business in Fargo until his death in 1943. |
Fenwick Watkins coached in Fargo Moorhead from 1909 to 1926. Concordia College Annual, The Scout, 1923.
Fargo College Championship Football Team, 1910. Coach Watkins led the College to several state championships. He stands at left. HCSCC Collections.
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