BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : BLACK PEOPLE IN THE EARLY PERIOD OF MINNESOTA 17th, 18th and 10th CENTURY :

Negro entry into the area that became Minnesota began in the early 18th century but was one minuteness in quantity. The exact date of entry is unknown but there are indication that Negroes engaged in fur trading activities there during the early 19th century, Negroes were also engaged in the trade  not only as servant and slaves but  as independent entrepreneurs, cooks, hunters, guides, and interpreters while others became salaried traders and voyageurs. It was said that the Negroes could often negotiate with the Indians without engendering much of a friction that often entered into Indian and Whites relationship.This was the fact that they felt the racial affinity felt between the Indians and the Negroes.

It is true that many experienced traders always got a Negro if possible to negotiate for them with the Indians because of there pacifying effect. There is very few records of Negroes  in Minnesota for the first four decades of the 19th century. What few there are seem to have been brought to Fort Snelling by army Officers. Most of the Negroes were slaves and there are records of at least two slaves been sold during the 1820's and 1830's. A Methodist Missionary named Alfred Brunson bought a slave for $1200 in 1827. Before the civil war, there were few Negroes in Minnesota , in 1850 there were only 39 Negroes in the whole Territory.