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Rochester Local

Embracing Black History Month in Rochester MN: The Mendenhalls

Virginia Mendenhall

Throughout Black History Month, we will be featuring Black people from Rochester’s history. We will also be sharing important resources and information. Follow along as we recognize the many Black people who have helped shape our community, and the countless contributions they have made.


In 1965, as the US was still embroiled in the Civil Rights movement, education lead the way for progress in bringing the first Black educators to Rochester, MN in the husband-wife teaching duo of Rodney and Virginia Mendenhall.

Originally from South Carolina, the Mendenhalls, along with their son, moved to Rochester in 1965, after Rodney was offered a position teaching Electronics and Engineering Technology at Rochester State Junior College (now Rochester Community and Technical College). He was the first Black instructor at the college. Virginia Mendenhall likewise was the first Black teacher hired by Rochester Public Schools, in 1966. During her long tenure of 39 years with Rochester Public schools, Virginia taught English and worked as a librarian, first at Central Junior High, then at Willow Creek Middle School.

Rodney Mendenhall received his bachelor’s and master’s degree from South Carolina State University. After serving in the U.S. Army in the Korean War, Mendenhall continued his studies, completing graduate work at Penn State University and the University of Illinois. It was at the University of Illinois that he met Dan Lavine, an instructor in engineering at Rochester State Junior College, who encouraged Mendenhall to apply for an instructor opening. He was offered the position, first teaching physics, and electronics, eventually heading the Electronics Engineering program.

Rodney Mendenhall
Photo Credit: Merle Dalen, Rochester Post-Bulletin

Virginia Mendenhall also received her degree from South Carolina State University, which at that time was an all-Black university. Prior to moving to Rochester, she taught at an all-Black boarding school. “There was some anxiety on my part,” she said, as she began her new role, unsure of how she would be received by students and colleagues alike. Mendenhall later said that she believed that people were sincere in their reception of her, and that people weren’t “just being polite.”

Having lived in the South still deeply entrenched in the Jim Crow era, the Mendenhalls experienced a more subtle form of racism here in Rochester, including redlining. This practice, which occurred nationwide, restricted Black and other people of color from renting or owning in certain areas of a city by deeming areas as low-risk for mortgage lenders, and other areas high-risk. These areas strongly correlated with the number of non-white residents, and concentrated non-white residents in these limited areas for decades. In their first house search upon arriving in Rochester, the Mendenhalls were confined to searching in the NW part of Rochester.

In their own words, the Mendenhalls didn’t view themselves as ‘trailblazers’ or ‘groundbreakers’ in their lives here in Rochester. Says Virginia Mendenhall, “We were not activists. I belonged to a few organizations, but that’s not the way he [Rodney] was. He preferred to offer support in the background. Rodney was appointed to the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission in 1967, which was tasked with implementing the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, but truly focused on his work and family. Both Rodney and Virginia Mendenhall were gifted educators, something that was recognized by students and colleagues alike. “His students really, really liked him. He was a very good teacher, patient and very thorough, and very interested in his students,” Virginia said of Rodney. Over the course of their long careers, the Mendenhalls undoubtedly impacted the lives of countless students in Rochester.

The population of Rochester has grown over the last 60+ years since the Mendenhalls first moved here, and now includes many more residents of color. However, the representation of BIPOC educators has not kept pace. While roughly 40% of students in the Rochester Public School district are students of color, indigenous, or mixed race, only 4% of educators at RPS are people of color. One of Rochester Public Schools’ goals is to increase the number of BIPOC educators, and over the past several years have implemented initiatives to mentor, support, and increase availability of resources for educators of color. The Mendenhalls’ legacy of Black and BIPOC excellence in education will carry on to new generations of educators in Rochester.

Sources:

Rochester Post-Bulletin:

“Many Changes Await  1,500 JC Students”- 9/8/1965

“1st Negro School Teacher is Hired for City System”- exact date unknown- 1966

“Negro Teacher Is ‘Accepted'”- 6/3/1967

“Technology Programs at RSJC Accredited” – 11/16/1977

“True Trailblazer”- 2/6/2016

“Obituaries- Rodney Mendenhall”- 1/12/2017

“First Black Teachers Were Rochester Pioneers”- 1/13/2017

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