From the pages of history

Moments in U history from the pages of the alumni journal, now called Minnesota

From M, fall 2005

75 years ago

The Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, now the Minnesota Orchestra, moved into the new Northrop Memorial Auditorium on campus, making the University of Minnesota the only university in the world with a major symphony orchestra located on campus, according to the October 4, 1930, Minnesota Alumni Weekly. Students will benefit, the Weekly argued, from exposure to "music in its highest form... at special rates." The opening concert in a 16-performance series was October 17, 1930, and featured famed Czech soprano Maria Jeritza. The orchestra remained at Northrop until 1974, when Orchestra Hall opened.

50 years ago

The alumni magazine saluted Roy Wilkins (B.A. '23), newly elected leader of the NAACP, in its October 1955 issue. Wilkins took the helm at a critical moment in U.S. history, as NAACP court challenges to school desegregation and other institutionalized discrimination were making headway. A trained journalist and editor of the NAACP's magazine, The Crisis, for 15 years, Wilkins led the NAACP until 1977, through the Little Rock school desegregation; marches on Washington, D.C., and Selma, Alabama; passage of the Voting Rights Act; and the establishment of many NAACP programs in northern cities in response to race riots there.