Mapping Prejudice on 6th Ave North

Olson Memorial Highway, or Highway 55, is an urban highway running through North Minneapolis. It is one of many urban highways that divides communities, pollutes the environment, and creates a hazardous environment for nearby residents.

Olson Memorial Highway has a uniquely devastating history, as the construction of the highway was at the expense of a thriving Black and Jewish cultural corridor along 6th Avenue North that was home to dozens of homes, shops, businesses, and music venues.

Our Streets Advocacy Director José Antonio Zayas Cabán and Mapping Prejudice Co-Founder Kirsten Delegard present on the history of Olson Memorial Highway and how racist housing policies, along with transportation and urban development, demonstrate an urgency to transform the highway into a boulevard as a means to restore safety and accessibility back into the communities through which it divides.