A Soup Kitchen In Blackduck By Doris Lindberg

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The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to 1941 and juxtaposed some of the best and worst aspects of the human experience. On one hand, the Great Depression destroyed lives; as a result of the Great Depression, millions of people lost their jobs, their homes, and their ways of life. On the other hand, the Great Depression forced people to work together in order to survive; according to Doris Lindberg, “People helped each other.” Additionally, the Great Depression fostered a hardworking, thrifty, and tenacious character among those who survived it. Doris Lindberg is one of the survivors. Below Left: Doris Lindberg in April, 2018. Below Right: A soup kitchen in Blackduck, MN: Courtesy of the Blackduck History and Art Center. Doris Lindberg (née Lee) was born to Irene and Sam Lee in a small, Northern Minnesota town called Blackduck on April 25th, 1923. Doris was …show more content…

Doris’ mother fed the Kansan family who lived across the street from the Lees. When the family arrived in Minnesota with nothing, and after the father stole a 50-pound bag of flour to feed his family, he could not find a job or afford food because, according to Doris, “the mayor had it out for him.” Beyond disapproving of the Kansans, the mayor of Blackduck disapproved of feeding railroad riders. Nevertheless, Irene Lee fed the railroad riders who came to her home looking for food, asking them to chop wood for her before feeding them on her back porch. Once, she gave a man from Kansas long underwear to stay warm. After her death, the Lee family received a letter from the man’s wife, thanking Irene Lee for her kindness. Irene Lee’s philosophy of helping and accepting others rubbed off on Doris who, while recounting her mother’s generosity toward the railroad riders commented that “They [the railroad riders] weren’t bums; people called them bums. They were just ordinary people looking for jobs, riding the

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