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In the early 1970’s, Native American youth were experiencing discrimination in the Twin Cities public schools that created turmoil and high drop out rates. This lead to the creation of an alternative accredited educational place named The Red School House. KFAI’s Dixie Treichel filed this report. Listen below.
“Being at Red School House, you didn’t have anyone telling you you couldn’t be who you are,” said Dorene Day, a former Red School House student. “We were encouraged to delve into every aspect of our life as a Native person.”
The Red School House began in February of 1972. The idea was hatched by concerned parent Charlotte Day alongside St Paul American Indian Movement Executive Director Edward Benton-Benai. Day and Benton-Benai then developed the concept with members of the community. First Person Radio interviewed Edward Benton-Benai in 1976.
“So our relationship with the public school system of St. Paul has not been one of romance. They had threatened to pick all the kids up from school and charge them with truancy at one time. When that call came, we sent out a call to the Indian community. In about 40 minutes there were about 250 Indians that surrounded the building and dared them to come and get the kids. And we knew too that we had a responsibility to live up to and that was the maintaining and enlarging of the school.”
This work is funded in part by the Minnesota Humanities Center with money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
Photograph Courtesy of the American Indian Movement Interpretive Center.
Fresh Fruit Host on the Third Thursday of the Month
Producer, Host, Engineer, Editor, Composer, Sound Artist. Sound Designer
Dixie creates audio documentaries and stories, collaborates with artists in many disciplines, and her sound art has been heard internationally on radio, in art galleries, sound art festivals and streaming festivals. She is a recipient of a 1996 Hollywood Drama-logue Award for Theatrical Sound Design (San Francisco); Best Sound Designer 2010 from Lavender Magazine (Minneapolis-St Paul); 2015 Page One Award from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists for Getting a handle on ham radio, a radio documentary. Fresh Fruit: 35 Years of Queer Radio, an audio documentary by Dixie Treichel for KFAI MinneCulture
This Way Out Correspondent and Contributor to Free Speech Radio and WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service
Audio stories, portraits, documentaries on Ampers, PRX, MinneCulture soundcloud
Plus special interviews & shows throughout the year
Contact: [email protected]
International Women's Day on KFAI March 8
2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008
Selected Fresh Fruit interviews (listed in alphabetical order)
- Gaye Adegbalola, musican, educator, activist, founding member of Saffire – the Uppity Blues Women
- Edward Albee, playwright
- Representative Susan Allen, Minneapolis, district 61B
- Kevin Allison, comedian, storyteller, Risk! Host
- Ann Bancroft, arctic explorer, author, educator
- S. Bear Bergman, trans writer, performer, activist
- Alexandra Billings, trans actress, singer
- Bain Boehlke, Artistic Director/Founder, The Jungle Theater, actor, designer
- Kate Bornstein, trans playwright, perfomance artist, author, activist
- Bill Burleson, writer, author, bisexuality activist
- Charo, entertainer, flamenco/classical guitarist
- Judy Chicago, feminist, artist, author, activist, educator
- Margaret Cho, comedienne, singer, actress, activist
- Shamey Cramer, Officer, Ceremonies, Federation of Gay Games
- Venus de Mars, trans singer/songwriter, guitarist
- Senator Scott Dibble, Minnesota Senator
- JD Doyle, Queer Music Heritage, OutRadio, Queer Voices on KPFT Houston
- Jefferson Fietek, educator, activist
- Leigh Fondakowski, playwright, director
- Tret Fure, singer, songwriter, guitarist
- Carolyn Gage, feminist, playwright, activist
- Jewelle Gomez, writer, activist
- Ricky Ian Gordon, composer
- Judy Grahn, poet, writer, social theorist, teacher
- Guerrilla Girls-Frida Kahlo and Kathe Kollwitz, artists, activists
- Ellen Hart, mystery author, teacher, Mystery Writers of America 2017 Grand Master Award Recipient
- Ian Harvie, trans comedian, actor
- Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe, poet, filmmaker, performer
- Kim Hines, playwright, director, actress, teacher, former Fresh Fruit Host
- Horse, (Scotland) singer, songwriter
- Janis Ian, singer, songwriter, author, activist
- Ione, writer, author, Deep Listening Institute
- Joe Ippolito, Founder/Executive Director of Gender Reel Film Festival, trans activist
- Andrea Jenkins, trans poet, writer, performer, activist
- Dale Johnson, Artistic Director, MN Opera
- Myron Johnson, Artistic Director, Ballet of the Dolls, dancer
- Mara Keisling, Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality
- John Killacky, Executive Director, The Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, filmmaker, activist, former Fresh Fruit Host
- Maxine Klein, director, playwright, author, educator, activist
- Michael Korie, librettist
- Richard LaFortune, "Anguksuar", director of Two Spirit Press Room, artist, writer, activist
- Nancy Manahan & Becky Bohan, authors
- Beverly McClellan, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
- Pamela Means, singer, songwriter, guitarist, activist
- Tim Miller, performance artist, writer, educator, activist
- Miss Richfield 1981, comedian, performer
- Meredith Monk, composer, vocalist
- Kevin "Kaoz" Moore, musician, activist
- Peter Neofotis, author, performer
- Charles Nolte, actor, playwright, director, educator
- Nhojj, singer, songwriter, musician
- Robyn Ochs, bisexuality expert, speaker, teacher, writer, activist
- Rev. Canon Albert Olge, president of St. Paul’s Foundation for International Reconciliation, activist
- Pauline Oliveros, composer, performer, Deep Listening Institute
- John Ottman, Hollywood film composer, editor
- Dean Otto, film curator at the Walker Art Center
- Dr. Sharon Preves, author, professor of sociology, Hamline University
- Sandy Rapp, singer, songwriter, activist
- Amy Ray, singer, songwriter, activist, Indigo Girl
- Ann Reed, singer, songwriter, guitarist, author
- Robbie Rogers, pro soccer player with the LA Galaxy, author
- Romanovsky & Phillips, folk music-comedy duo, musicians, activists
- RuPaul, entertainer, singer, actor
- Eleanor Savage, producer, activist, former Fresh Fruit/Forbidden Fruit Host
- Bettina Schelker, (Switzerland) singer, songwriter, boxing champion, activist
- Ina Nicosia-Schelker, (Switzerland) teacher, former professional basketball player, activist
- Patrick Scully, Patrick's Cabaret founder, dancer, educator, activist
- Bishop Christopher Senonjo, Anglican Bishop from Uganda, activist
- Stephen Silha, filmmaker, writer
- Steven Solberg, filmmaker, activist
- Joe Stevens, trans singer, songwriter, guitarist, banjo man, activist
- Foxy Tann, cabaret/burlesque performer, educator
- Lily Tomlin, comedienne, actress
- Diane Torr, (Scotland) performance artist, educator, author
- Jean-Nikolas Tretter, LGBT historian, The Tretter Collection Founder, former KFAI Host
- Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, United Church of Christ, IWR & Faith Work Program Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, activist
- Stewart Van Cleve, LGBT historian, author, activist
- Harry Waters Jr., actor, director, assistant professor of theater, Macalester College
- Rob Yaeger, Activist, former Fresh Fruit Host
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