2024 Winners of the Minnesota History Day Topical Prize - Minnesota's Laws and Courts Daniel Arrowood and Logan Metzger from Sunrise Park Middle School, White Bear Lake for their exhibit on White Bear Lake’s Ban on Cigarette Vending Machines the First Such Ban in the Country. Scout Murch-Gordon from Murray Middle School, St. Paul for their exhibit on Griswold v. Connecticut: Legalizing Birth Control. |
2023 Rebecca Kranz from Rosemount High School for her Senior Division Individual Documentary Justice in Heaven: How the Execution of Ann Bilansky Sent Minnesota into the Frontier Against Capital Punishment. | 2022 Anna Steger from Murray Middle School in St. Paul for her Junior Individual Documentary The United States of America v. Reserve Mining Company Debate: A Victory for Environmental Justice Vivian Hustvedt from Salk Middle School in Elk River for her Junior Individual Performance Lois Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. |
2021 Caroline Hedlund from the Breck School for her paper titled: Public Spaces as Borders: How city parks have created a racial divide in Minneapolis |
2020 Alexander Her from Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake for his project detailing the 1970 case of Jack Baker and Michael McConnell being denied a marriage license in Hennepin County because the applicants were of the same sex. Baker and McConnell appealed on the basis that it was their fundamental right to marry. On September 3, 1971, Baker and McConnell broke the same-sex marital barrier and became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in the United States. Referencing Baker v. Nelson, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 officially recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry. Details of the project can be viewed here. Jocelyn Dale from North Lakes Academy in Forest Lake won for her Senior Individual Exhibit titled "Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.: Breaking Barriers in Sexual Harassment". The project details the 1975 case of Lois Jenson who worked at Eveleth Taconite Co. (EvTac) in Minnesota and was repeatedly harassed. In filing the first-ever class-action lawsuit, the plaintiffs broke social and political barriers paving the way for future sexual harassment lawsuits and movements. More details of the project can be viewed here. |