This virtual program will reveal the riveting account of Minneapolis’ red-light district and it’s powerful madams who ran them. Author Penny Petersen will bring to life this chapter of our city’s history, tracing the story of how these “houses of ill fame” rose to prominence in the lat 1800s. In their heyday Minneapolis brothels were not only open for business but constituted a substantial economic and political force in the city. Women of independent means, madams built custom bordellos to suit their tastes and exerted influence over leading figures and politicians.

She will also touch upon racial interactions within the vice economy, investigating an African American madam who possibly married into one of the city’s most prestigious families. This program is for anyone interested in the history of women, sexuality, and urban life in Minneapolis.

Speaker: Penny Petersen has a long-standing interest in the hidden histories of Minneapolis, which led to the story of the Minneapolis Madams. Before retiring in 2015, she worked as a researcher for a Minneapolis historical consulting firm. That same year she started working for what would become the Mapping Prejudice Project, which sought to unearth racial restrictions in Hennepin County property deeds.