Medcalf: Film showcases success stories in Minnesota’s Black community

I always joke that the Black community in Minnesota is full of connections and relationships that you sometimes miss until you have a random conversation.

When Anthony Scott and I recently talked about his upcoming film on the success of the Black community in this state, we laughed about that reality when we realized we’d both graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato. We’d both played football there and we had also been equally influenced by Michael Fagin, a mentor to generations of Black students on that campus.

“Small world,” he said.

Scott’s father, Walter Scott, and my father were born about three hours from one another in Mississippi, the birthplace of many Black folks who moved to the Midwest in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. Walter Scott was one of the first historians of the Black community in Minnesota and wrote “Minneapolis Beacon,” “Minneapolis Negro Profile” and “Minnesota’s Black Community” — three books republished by the Minnesota Historical Society in 2018 as “The Scott Collection” — to offer insight about a group of people he loved.

Anthony Scott, president of Minnesota’s Black Community Project, will continue that legacy with his film, “Spotlight on Minnesota’s Triumphant African American Community,” being screened around the Twin Cities, including Saturday at 11 a.m. at Pohlad Hall at the Minneapolis Central Library. The film showcases the success stories throughout Minnesota’s Black community and the generations of families that have thrived here. He also credits the Minnesota Historical Society and the family of the late Dr. Charles Crutchfield, a nationally renowned Black dermatologist in the Twin Cities, for their assistance with the project.

It features politicians, attorneys, artists, community leaders and other contributors to the past, present and future of Minnesota in a way I haven’t seen.

“I hope viewers get a sense of the community that’s been thriving all along through all the ups and downs,” Scott said. “They’ll see people and say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know that person. I didn’t know that that’s what they were doing.’”

In the background of the project is another groundbreaker in the local Black community: Scott’s sister, Chaundra L. Scott, a Fulbright Specialist Award recipient, workforce diversity expert as a tenured professor at Oakland University, and a Harvard and Columbia University graduate.

“I’m the president of the organization,” said Anthony Scott, who was a supervisor in Hennepin County Child Protection for 20 years before he retired, “but she runs it.”

More than anything, his film highlights people like his sister, individuals whose stories are often overlooked in this town.

I started this column five years ago because I wanted to tell those stories. Nearly 20 years ago, my first job at the Star Tribune involved community interactions and conversations. I had to tell some of the grim tales, of violence damaging pockets of Minneapolis. I also, however, tried to tell the stories about the love, joy, achievement and brightness in the Black community.

There was a woman who hired Minneapolis high school students at her cookie shop. A pastor who’d trained at Juilliard held ballet classes in a studio she’d opened. There were mentors who’d devoted themselves to helping youth in those communities, too. I told those stories, but there were times when I wasn’t convinced that the Star Tribune had an appetite for them. And I thought this column could offer a platform for those tales two decades later.

“All of this started with my dad,” Scott said.

Scott’s father wrote books on the side as he worked other jobs. One of his gigs involved driving dignitaries around at the airport. That job introduced him to celebrities like Frank Sinatra and other entertainers and professional athletes.

“Matter of fact, I have an autograph of the whole Chicago Bulls team,” Scott said. “My dad got it for me. Michael Jordan, I mean, the whole team.”

Despite those encounters, Scott’s father’s greatest joy came from the stories he told — our stories — in Minneapolis. He granted literary real estate to the experiences of the Black community to ensure that a permanent and tangible documentation of those journeys would be available for future generations.

His son’s documentary is an opportunity to continue that mission.