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Minnesota Governor Acts Against Resorts Practicing Bigotry

July 2, 1953
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Gov. C. Elmer Anderson acted today to deprive a number of Minnesota summer resorts of the facilities of the State Tourist Bureau offices because they practiced racial or religious prejudice.

Acting on a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League, the Minnesota governor instructed the director of the Minnesota Department of Business Development to remove discriminatory literature from the offices of the tourist bureau: The department director also notified resort agencies, the governor announced, “that the State will not be party to distribution of any literature which make a point of religious or racial prejudices in any form.”

The governor’s action was taken under the equal rights law covering public places of accommodation in Minnesota. In a letter to the Anti-Defemation League, Gov. Anderson said: “I am convinced that we must prevent these infections from becoming major ills if we are to have a strong democracy.” He declared that “racial or religious discrimination in any form is contrary to the declared policy of the State.”

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