Celebrating Charles Scrutchin: Minnesota s first Black lawyer outside the Twin Cities and a defender of civil rights
Charles Scrutchin was Minnesota’s first Black lawyer to practice outside of the Twin Cities. He often represented lumberjacks and other laborers, many of whom had recently immigrated to the country. In the 32 years he lived in Bemidji he handled over 500 cases in Beltrami County.
Written By:
Sue Bruns, Special to Forum News Service | 8:03 am, Feb. 10, 2021 ×
A portrait of Charles Scrutchin by area artist Alice Blessing is on display at the Bemidji High School. The school’s media center was named after Scrutchin in 2018. Photo courtesy of the Beltrami County Historical Society.
Charles Scrutchin, Minnesota’s first Black lawyer to practice outside of the Twin Cities and frequently described in early Bemidji Pioneer stories as “Bemidji’s colored lawyer,” arrived in Bemidji just two years after the village had incorporated and soon became one of its most significant citizens.
Scrutchin often represented lumberjacks and other laborers, many of whom had recently immigrated to the country. In the 32 years he lived here, he handled over 500 cases in Beltrami County, many of them attention-getting criminal cases involving theft, graft and murder. But some of Scrutchin’s greatest accomplishments had wider ranging effects for Minnesota and the civil rights of the state’s citizens.