Life in “The Sticks.”

A few years ago, I was having lunch with my brother at the Countryside Café, a popular spot on Highway 55. I overheard four men at an adjoining table talking about North Minneapolis. I told them I had grown up there and intended to take photos of my old houses. They all said they were police officers, and warned me against going there, or at least, one said,

“Don’t get out of your car.”

My former houses were actually south of Humboldt Heights, or as those of us who lived there called it, “The Sticks.”

There is a small, well-maintained and racially mixed community near the city’s edge, centered on Humboldt, Irving, James, Knox and Logan Avenue. This community evolved around World War One, when black families from further south purchased land and built homes around Shingle Creek. The neighborhood is just beyond Victory Memorial Drive, the railroad tracks and industrial area where Midwest Pipe Coating is located, beyond Fire Station #20, where my father worked until he retired is there also.

Although there were a few white pioneers who settled in the area, black settlers – the Adairs, the Scofields, the Armstrongs and gradually families like the Adams, the Barksdales, the Lasleys, Wallaces, Wilsons, and Jacksons bought homes and settled into the area. Shingle Creek Elementary School was built, and then Olson Junior High, but some of the families had moved from south Minneapolis and some students had attended Central High.

But the end of World War Two brought a building boom to north Minneapolis; and with new schools, including Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic School, whites began moving into the area.

My family lost our home near the river when construction of I-94 was underway; but my father was a Minneapolis fire fighter and had to live in the city; so he bought our house back from the State and had it moved to a vacant lot on Logan.

I was a sophomore at De La Salle at the time of our house transport to Logan Avenue and I had joined the wrestling team. Our “B” squad was sent to compete against City schools, and it was at a match that I met a neighbor, Norval Palmer Barksdale, or “Boxie” as he was known by his friends. Boxie was one of the stars of Patrick Henry’s wrestling team, and we quickly became fast friends. It was through Boxie that my life changed, and I became a member of the “Sticks” community.

Hanging out with Boxie, I met many of the black families and young people my age who lived in the neighborhood. I discovered a neighborhood where whites and blacks lived in harmony because many had school-age children; but thanks to Boxie, I became part of the closely-knit black community.

During the summer, a group often organized cookouts and parties. On most summer afternoons, a group of us gathered at Olson’s hoop court for highly competitive pick-up games. Some of us – Steve Lasley, George Jackson, Richard Adams and I – would pile into a car and drive through the north and south side seeking pick-up games. Once, we heard Dave Winfield, the former Gopher and major league star, was playing at his old high school in St. Paul. We found him and his friends, and George Jackson, who was 6’6” and all-city at Henry, held his own against Winfield.

As I became part of the social life of the Sticks, Boxie became my mentor, taking me to parties on the “Near North” side of town, to night clubs with black patronage and to other locations where blacks frequented. We obtained fake IDs, (a friend of my brother gave me his Geneva Convention card showing my age as 25) and Boxie had a source who produced phony drivers’ licenses, so we could gain admission to bars and clubs. This meant that on weekends we were often found at the Blue Note, a jazz club near Plymouth Avenue; the Ebony Lounge in St. Paul; and occasionally at other black clubs. Boxie took me to an after-hours club on Plymouth, the pool hall nearby, and Skips BBQ, a very popular restaurant after the clubs closed at 1 a.m. He took me to Phyllis Wheatley settlement house and tried to get me interested in their Golden Gloves program. But the coach thought my eyesight was too bad, and that I should stick with wrestling.

Then, the summer of 1968 brought terrible news. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Bobby Kennedy was shot down, and my friend Boxie died in a car crash in 1968 while serving in the Army and stationed in Germany. This was during the Vietnam era. I was stunned, and it was the only time I remember crying at a funeral.

The military draft was forcing young men my age to enlist, my student deferment allowing me to avoid the draft was running out, and I received my physical notice, which was the last step before induction.

With Boxie’s death, Boxie’s mother told me she had “adopted” me, and his siblings considered me one of the family.

My mother surprised me with a phone call and told me that she had received a telegram for me. It was from the federal government, and it informed me that I had been accepted as a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America – the domestic version of the Peace Corps). I was to report to Baltimore for training in August. After two weeks of training, I was assigned to the Community Action program in McKeesport, Pennsylvania’s Third Ward, a virtually all Black Ward. My years of living in Humboldt Heights could not have prepared me better for the community organizing work I was about to begin.

Yet, I continued to stay in touch with my friends in Humboldt Heights. I spent most of Christmas and New Years at the Barksdales, enjoying the traditional New Years soul food dinner. I actually like chitlins. After my year of service in VISTA, I returned to Minneapolis and secured a position as a community organizer for Pillsbury Waite Neighborhood Services, and then eventually became Executive Director of the Model City Communications Center. Thanks to Alice Rainville, then president of the City Council, our organization received block grant funds and began services throughout the city, including Camden and Humboldt Heights. My social life continued to include my friends from “the Sticks,” and I watched as young people I had known as teens blossomed into productive adults.

Part Two of this story describes the lives and accomplishments of many of my friends and in some cases their families– who are mostly baby boomers and grandparents. Some have achieved a degree to notoriety, while others succeeded in their professional endeavors without fame or fortune.

Several of these friends from “the Sticks” have gone on to achieve remarkable careers and are profiled in upcoming issues. Virtually all have touched the lives of others in positive and helpful ways.

And Humboldt Heights continues to evolve. Today it still is a stable, racially mixed neighborhood, only now, friends who still live in the neighborhood report that there are Asian and Hispanic families as well. Houses are still well-kept, crime is perceived as low, and neighbors still get along.

Here then, in coming issues, are some of the remarkable personal stories of “the children of the Sticks:” These individuals include:

Steve Lasley – captain of Henry’s basketball and baseball team. He played for North Hennepin’s championship team, served in the 101^st Airborne in Vietnam, and was awarded a scholarship to Central State in Ohio. He graduated and returned to Minnesota, earned a master’s degree in English from St. Thomas, taught at the Urban League Street Academy and at North High, while coaching basketball at North Hennepin.

Thornton Jones – Recruited as a cast member at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater, Dudley Riggs and other local theaters; created the broadcast media personality Pharoah Black, and who introduced new R&B music to Twin Cities; joined and staffed men’s and father’s agencies while serving as counselor to  ex-offenders.

Judith Baker – Director of Diversity PICA head start program for 4 decades, connecting parents with learning opportunities for their children.

Richard Adams – technical writer and entrepreneur. One of the first interns hired by Control Data when it sought to integrate its Northside workforce.

George Jackson – renowned Blues artist, all-conference center on Henry’s basketball team, played with major recording stars.

Claudia Wallace – assistant to the president of the University of Minnesota; collected and archived many important African American history documents. Claudia married Leroy Gardner, captain of the U of M basketball team.

Kathy Barksdale – Court Reporter for US Bankruptcy Court for 34 years; and care giver for ailing parents. Downtown resident for 20 years.

David Barksdale = Signed up for LEAP, an initiative to get minorities into the skilled trades, Graduate of Dunwoody, certificate for perfect attendance. Plumber for 34 years; Minneapolis Public Schools; foreman for 6 years. dedicated father and husband.

Jarvis Jenkins – Successful sales career with many local and national companies, including Honeywell, IBM, DEC; entrepreneur; inventor. Father and husband.