# Minnesota *State in the Upper Midwest of the United States* Minnesota is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest. It borders the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario and the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota, and it shares a Lake Superior water boundary with Michigan.[^1] The [[United States Census Bureau]] counted 5,706,494 residents in the 2020 census and estimated 5,830,405 on July 1, 2025.[^2] Saint Paul has been the seat of government since the territory was organized in 1849. The territory entered the Union as the 32nd state in 1858.[^1] The [[Minnesota Legislature]] enacted a series of civil-rights, pay-equity and public-employment statutes between 1953 and 1993. They include Minn. Stat. §43A.191, the 1981 affirmative-action statute for state agencies.[^3] On January 14, 2026, the Department of Justice filed [[United States v. State of Minnesota (affirmative-action hiring)]], No. 0:26-cv-00273, a Title VII pattern-or-practice complaint challenging that statute.[^4] The Department's press-release headline refers to "Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime."[^5] Between September 2025 and March 2026 the Department also filed three other suits. It sued the Secretary of State over voter-roll access, and the state and three local governments over immigration-separation ordinances.[^6][^7] It also sued the [[Minnesota Department of Education]] and the [[Minnesota State High School League]] under Title IX.[^8] The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota has charged more than seventy defendants in the [[Feeding Our Future]] child-nutrition prosecutions.[^9] On May 22, 2026, the Department of Justice announced a 500-month sentence for the defendant it described as the ringleader.[^10] The House Committee on Oversight issued a report on March 4, 2026, and a final staff report on June 8, 2026. Both address state-administered social programs under Governor [[Tim Walz]] and Attorney General [[Keith Ellison]].[^11][^12] ## Etymology The state's name comes from the Dakota name of the Minnesota River. It is traced either to *mní sóta*, "clear blue water", or to *Mníssota*, "cloudy water". Four spellings were considered before "Minnesota" was fixed in 1849, when the territory was created.[^1] ## History The Dakota people lived in the region when French voyageurs and fur traders arrived in the 17th century. Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) migration followed. Fort Snelling was built between 1819 and 1825 at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. The state constitution was adopted on October 13, 1857.[^1] In June 1947 a report titled *The Negro and His Home in MN* was submitted to Governor Luther Youngdahl.[^13] In November 1950 Youngdahl won a third term, which no Minnesota Republican had done before.[^14] The Legislature outlawed racial covenants in housing contracts in 1953.[^15] In 1955 it enacted the Fair Employment Practices Act (Ch. 516, Laws 1955).[^16] The housing provisions of the State Act Against Discrimination took full effect in 1963. In 1967 Governor LeVander (R) signed the [[Minnesota Human Rights Act]], which created the [[Minnesota Department of Human Rights]].[^17] The Public Employment Labor Relations Act of 1971 gave public employees collective-bargaining rights.[^18] On February 8, 1973, Minnesota became the 26th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.[^19] The human-rights statute was renamed in 1973, when sex became a protected class. Age and disability were added in 1975.[^17] The Council on Economic Status of Women published a [[Comparable worth]] study in 1979. The 1982 State Employees Pay Equity Act is described by Minnesota Management and Budget as the nation's first comparable-worth law. The [[Local Government Pay Equity Act]] of 1984 extended the requirement to every city, county, school district and special district, with a July 2, 1986 implementation deadline. That made Minnesota the only state requiring [[Pay equity]] in both state and local government.[^20] Section 43A.191 was enacted in 1981 (Laws 1981, ch. 210, sec. 19) under Governor [[Al Quie]]. It requires state agencies to set numerical affirmative-action goals, file plans and report annually.[^3] It is administered by Minnesota Management and Budget.[^21] The Revisor's history line for §43A.191 lists the 1981 enactment and seven later session laws, from 1986, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2007, 2019 (1st Special Session) and 2023