Food served not only to indicate regional backgrounds, but also played a significant role in the day to day social life of the citizens of Old Rondo.

Some of this culture is further revealed by the items in the archive. The Rondo community is an amalgamation, full of transplanted and adapted cultures that take a unique shape in the heart of St. These artifacts prove that the story of Rondo is not insulated and independent in the scope of history. These foods represent cultural and regional heritages that were survived in the cuisine of local residents. Both the soup tureen, that Joyce Williams explains was used for collard greens, and the recipe for sweet potato pie harken to some of Fairbanks’s vivid descriptions of the delicacies that poured out of her family’s kitchen. Two of the foods mentioned by Evelyn are also included in the archive. Much of the food consumed at Mama’s table had roots in the South, where Mama was born and raised. Fairbanks’s stories point directly to the influence of Southern cuisine in Minnesota. In Rondo resident Evelyn Fairbank’s memoir “Days of Rondo”, her own foster mother hails originally from Macon, Georgia. Finally, looking deeper into food production offers a glimpse at some of the gender roles and expectations in Old Rondo.Īs the text “African Americans in Minnesota” indicates, most African Americans in Minnesota by the 1950s had themselves moved from the South, or were directly descended from parents who had made the transition.

Additionally, this exhibit notes the power that food had in the Rondo neighborhood to bring people together, and the immense value that mealtimes had in the strengthening of bonds amongst residents. This exhibit seeks to demonstrate the importance of food in indicating the cultural and regional heritage of members of Old Rondo’s black community. The ways in which people eat, what they eat, and the customs that surround mealtimes are critical elements of cultures across the globe and Rondo is no exception. Food is an important field of study because it is an unavoidable fact of life for everybody. This exhibit discusses the impact of food on the culture of the Old Rondo neighborhood. Silver Teapot provided by Joan Perteet Thompson, used by her grandmother when friends and family where over.

The Days of Rondo by Evelyn Fairbanks