3905 5th Avenue So.
*On this date in 1991, the Lena Olive Smith House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This house in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, was owned by Lena O. Smith, a prominent Black civil rights attorney. She graduated from William Mitchell College of Law (then the Northwestern College of Law) in 1921. Afterward, she opened her law firm and became the first Black attorney in Minneapolis.
In her practice, she fought for equal protection under the law, equal access to housing, and the right to join labor unions. As an activist, she founded the Minneapolis Urban League. From 1935 through 1939, she was the first woman president of the Minneapolis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The house, #91001472, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a local landmark in recognition of the African American community in Minneapolis.
