Page 17 - Human Rights Program 2025 Annual Report

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PRESERVING OUR STORIES: THE MINNESOTA
HUMAN RIGHTS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Barbara Frey interviews Cheryl Thomas, founder of Global Rights for Women.
The Minnesota’s Human Rights Stories Oral History Project (MHRO) is a collection of interviews
featuring the stories of Minnesota human rights activists. Launched by HRP Director Emeritus
Barbara Frey in 2023, the collection features 14 interviews with 16 Minnesota human rights
activists. These conversations discuss activists’ efforts to address torture, racism, women’s
human rights, and more. They are a powerful educational resource for current and future human
rights defenders to learn from the successes and failures of past human rights activism, the
inner workings of human rights organizations, and the strategies employed by perpetrators to
deprive people of their human rights. These stories matter - the actions of past activists have
been instrumental to securing the rights we often take for granted, and they offer guidance for
our current times for how to continue the struggle for rights, even in the darkest moments.
The oral history collection is part of the
Minnesota Human Rights Archive, which is
housed in the University of Minnesota’s
Archives and Special Collections (ASC) in
Elmer L. Andersen Library. As the collection
expands, HRP continues to preserve the
stories of our elders with the goal to inspire,
educate, and empower future generations of
human rights scholars and practitioners.
James Dorsey, lawyer and human rights activist.
We encourage you to learn more about Minnesota’s enduring human rights tradition. Oral
history interviews are digitally accessible to the public via the University of Minnesota Libraries’
UMedia platform. Users can watch full video interviews, read and search both PDF and screen-
reader accessible transcripts and explore key topics across the collection through interactive
subject headings.