North Dakota
North Dakota man who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. dies
BISMARCK — A former North Dakota elected official who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. has died.
Byron Knutson died Dec. 6 at the age of 96, according to his family. His daughter alerted media to his death on Thursday, Jan. 15.
A member of the Democratic-NPL Party, Knutson served as a state legislator, insurance commissioner and labor commissioner.
Knutson was surrounded by family at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Bernice (Hofstad) Knutson, daughters Rebecca and Harmony Knutson, and grandchildren John, Olivia and Sophia Gowin.
“Profoundly inspired by King, our father devoted his life to public service,” Rebecca Knutson said via release. “There are still so many injustices happening in our world. Leaders like King and our father are desperately needed.”
A celebration of life for Knutson will be announced at a later date, the release said. To mark Knutson’s death, The Forum is republishing the following column by Jim Shaw, which was originally published in 2021.
‘No time for fear’ North Dakota man joined MLK in 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery
Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A day when we remember the extraordinary civil rights leader and the enormous impact he had.
One of the people King had a huge impact on was Byron Knutson, 91, of Bismarck.
Knutson grew up in the small North Dakota town of Harlow, near Devils Lake. It was far away from a sizable community of African Americans, and very far away from the segregated South, where Black Americans were degraded, humiliated and had few rights.
Knutson started thinking about racial injustice in the 1950s when he was a Marine sergeant serving in the Korean War. Three of his closest companions in the war were Black Americans from Louisiana and South Carolina. They lived together, ate together and fought together.
“These men served our nation hontrably,” Knutson said. “However, when they returned to their home states, they did not have the right to vote even though they had been willing to give their lives in defense of our nation’s actions. What an injustice. … I vowed to one day try to help people like these good young men.”
After the war, Knutson started following the news accounts from the Jim Crow South.
Contributed
“I was angry with how Blacks were treated,” Knutson said. “It was dreadful that in many states, segregation kept them from attending schools of their choice, from living and working wherever was best for them, from shopping at stores, from being served at lunch counters, from sitting wherever they wished in public transportation and from using a bathroom unless it was marked Black or Colored.”
Knutson read and watched news stories about King and was inspired by the young, charismatic Baptist minister from Atlanta. King led such events as the Montgomery bus boycott and the 1963 March on Washington, always preaching nonviolent protests.
It was during the March on Washington that King delivered his memorable “I Have a Dream” speech. Knutson saw it and was moved.
In Alabama and other Southern states, Black Americans were denied the right to vote. Sometimes they were given a poll tax they couldn’t pay, a literacy test they couldn’t pass or were simply rejected without explanation. Black people trying to register to vote risked being beaten, arrested or fired from their jobs.
So, in 1965, King announced there would be a voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Knutson enthusiastically volunteered to participate.
“When Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. called upon the nation’s clergy and lay people to support the rights of African Americans and all people to vote without fear of losing their lives, I was ready to do my part,” Knutson said. “I had seen the dreadful reports of the killings of innocent Blacks by hate mongers such as KKK members and the trampling of civil rights marchers by Southern police. … It was unthinkable that North Dakota would not be represented in this all-important call by Reverend King.”
Actually, Knutson signed up to take part in the third march. The first two ended in tragedy. The first march was on March 7, 1965. During that event, Alabama State Troopers beat the unarmed marchers with billy clubs, shoved them and fired tear gas at them. It became known as “Bloody Sunday.”
Alabama Department of Public Safety / TNS
Two days later, they tried marching again but turned back. That night, three of the white marchers were attacked and beaten with clubs by four members of the KKK. One of the victims, James Reeb, was killed.
So, Knutson, then 35, knew the potential dangers he was facing when he took a 10-day leave from his job at the Soo Line Railroad and headed to Selma along with Frank Woodall, a pastor at the Oberon, North Dakota, Swedish Lutheran Church.
They were advised not to drive a car with North Dakota license plates to Alabama. Thus, they drove 16 hours to Nashville, then took a train to Montgomery, and then were picked up in a station wagon for the ride to Selma. They were joined in the car by a young Black man who was going to march in honor of his uncle, who was recently lynched.
“Upon boarding the station wagon, the driver told us to keep our heads low,” Knutson said. “No raising of our heads, no talking. We obeyed, but through a slit in a curtain, we viewed police, whips in hand, mounted on white horses near us.”
A couple of days before the march, Knutson and 70 others were walking through a white neighborhood in Selma.
“Suddenly, curtains closed on the windows of residents and police appeared,” Knutson said. “They tapped on each of our shoulders, telling us we were being arrested for our own safety. We were ushered to our buses and brought to prison. Since the prison was full, we were incarcerated in what appeared to be an old warehouse where we were kept for the night.”
The next day, they went to the courthouse with local Black citizens so they could register to vote.
“We were told the registrar was just not available,” Knutson said. “Was the registrar suddenly unavailable because Black citizens were coming to legally be registered to vote? It was dismaying to witness this act against them.”
On March 21, 1965, it was time for the third march. This time, the walkers were to be protected by the Alabama National Guard, which had been federalized by President Lyndon Johnson.
“We were instructed in methods of nonviolent action to assure that the march would be peaceful,” Knutson said. “March organizers asked for persons who had been in the military and had experience in dealing with crowds to come forth to help in making sure that the thousands of marchers walked peacefully, and to assist the marchers if they needed it. I volunteered.”
So, led by King, Knutson and 8,000 peaceful participants started walking 54 miles to Montgomery.
William Lovelace / Getty Images / TNS
“It was a joyful march,” Knutson said. “I was in charge of several lines of marchers. I made sure that marchers stayed in formation, with no one wandering off the designated road. We looked out for those who needed extra help and assisted them in finding food, first aid and latrines. … The marchers were kind, cooperative, serious and determined souls, dedicated to bringing voting rights to African Americans. I felt blessed to be able to help them in this epic time.”
Many onlookers shouted ugly slurs at the walkers.
“We reminded marchers that they were instructed to disregard critical comments that were shouted at them,” Knutson said. “My responsibilities required a positive, kind bravery that had no time for fear.”
Four days after the start of the march, 25,000 joyful walkers arrived at the steps of the State Capitol in Montgomery. The joy turned to grief that night. One of the marchers, Viola Liuzzo, a white mother of five from Detroit, was shot dead by the Klan.
Still, the march received extensive news coverage, and the powerful images strongly influenced public opinion. Soon, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, and Johnson signed it into law on Aug. 6, 1965. Shortly afterwards, millions of Black Americans registered to vote.
“I am proud that I took part in the March for Voting Rights,” Knutson said. “It is one of the most important events of my life, in that it promoted the right for all of us to vote in our nation’s elections.”
Knutson went on to serve in the North Dakota House of Representatives, as North Dakota insurance commissioner and as North Dakota labor commissioner. In his office at home, there’s a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. on the wall that Knutson proudly displays.
“Martin Luther King Jr. continues to be the most inspirational leader of human and civil rights of our time,” Knutson said. “His messages of love, kindness and nonviolence, and of commitment of furthering the rights of all people, are as true today as they were when we marched 55 years ago.”
FARGO — One season ago, a Cinderella run for the West Fargo United girls hockey team came up just short in the state championship game.
United, the No. 7 seed, fell to Legacy/Bismarck in the 2025 final.
This time around, the team had momentum swaying in its favor, riding nine consecutive wins into Saturday’s title game against Grand Forks at Scheels Arena.
Led by goals from a pair of senior captains, United capped its redemption season with a 10th straight victory, fending off the KnightRiders 2-1 to claim the North Dakota girls hockey state tournament championship.
“It just means everything,” said United’s Payton Stocker, whose goal at the 12:31 mark of the second period gave her team a 1-0 lead. “We’ve worked so hard and throughout the season, it’s just been such a battle. Winning and coming out on top is just such a great feeling.”
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
Stocker was followed up in scoring by United captain Rachel Spanier. The defenseman fired a slap shot from the left point that beat Grand Forks goaltender Kylie Schmaltz to make it 2-0 with 35 seconds remaining in the middle frame.
Reagan Wilson locked things down in net for United, finishing with 23 saves and picking up an all-tournament team nod.
“This is my first year of high school hockey,” the sophomore goaltender said. “I can’t believe coming in here and winning a state title with all of these girls. I just love them so much.”
While it was the senior duo of Stocker and Spanier finding the net for United on Saturday, contributions were seen across the board.
Sophomore Emma Hassler also put forth an all-tournament campaign with five goals and an assist for six points over the three-day stretch.
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
Freshman Kaylee Augdahl finished the tournament with four points — including
a double-overtime winner
over Fargo North/South in Friday’s semifinals — and junior Liana Williamson added three assists.
“It wasn’t just us (seniors),” said Stocker, who joined Hassler and Wilson on the all-tourney team. “It was everyone collectively. Being seniors, it feels a lot better. It was a great feeling.”
United, the No. 5 seed this year, capped its season with a record of 17-9-0.
“These girls are awesome,” first-year United head coach Kennedy Blair said. “They’ve worked super, super hard since last April. Wake up early in the mornings, go into off-ice training, on-ice training and all that.
“This group of girls is really special. They’re a really close-knit group, and they trusted our coaching staff coming in as a first-year group.”
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
Blair knows a thing or two about winning championships. She was a North Dakota state champion goaltender with the former Bismarck Blizzard co-op and also won an NCAA Division I national title with the Wisconsin women’s program in 2021.
Yet, she never imagined ending her first year as a high school varsity coach with a state championship.
“No, I didn’t,” said Blair, who also won North Dakota High School Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors. “But I had belief in these girls that we could get to the state championship again.”
It’s the United co-op’s first-ever state title — which consists of West Fargo, West Fargo Sheyenne and West Fargo Horace high schools.
Prior to Saturday, the last time a West Fargo girls program won the state title was in 2014 when it was still a standalone program competing as the Packers.
“It’s amazing considering United hockey has never won a championship game,” Wilson said.
Grand Forks, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, ended its campaign with a 21-5-0 record.
Ella Yahna’s fourth goal of the tournament — which came on a 2-on-1 rush with the assist from teammate Reese Meagher, put the KnightRiders within one shot with 8:17 remaining in the third.
Grand Forks, however, was unable to find the equalizer as its bid for a first state championship came up just short.
“I thought we came out in the first and we had a tough time,” Grand Forks head coach Kelly Kilgore said. “I felt we battled some nerves. I really liked our second period … We carried the play and tilted the ice a little bit back in our favor. The shots kind of started to really turn in our favor.”
Stocker said she wouldn’t have wanted to win a state title as a senior with any other group of teammates.
“(They mean) everything,” Stocker said. “We’re so tight and they’re all my friends. Leaving them is going to be hard. But they mean everything to me. We’re all so close and I love them a lot.”
FIRST PERIOD: No scoring.
SECOND PERIOD: 1, WFU, Stocker (Augdahl, Hassler), 12:31. 2, WFU, Spanier (Augdahl, Stocker), 16:25.
THIRD PERIOD: 3, GF, Yahna (R. Meagher), 8:43.
SAVES: WFU, Wilson 7-13-3—23. GF, Schmaltz 7-3-14—24.
Eric Hylden / Grand Forks Herald
GRAND FORKS — The Grand Forks Children’s Museum has revealed the anonymous donor of the $2 million in matching funds that prompted others to step forward and bring the fundraising campaign closer to its goal of $35 million.
“It is with deep gratitude that the Grand Forks Children’s Museum now shares the name behind that bold vision,” said Katie Mayer, executive director of the museum, in naming Pam Laffen of Grand Forks as the anonymous donor.
With this gift and other major contributions, the fundraising campaign “stands at just $1.75 million remaining, bringing the finish line clearly into view,” Mayer said.
The museum “reflects Pam’s passion for learning and her belief in creating meaningful opportunities for children which have guided her life’s work and are deeply reflected in this gift,” she said.
Laffen said, “I am honored to be part of a community that supports a project dedicated to encouraging growth in education and service for future generations.”
Recognizing the impact of Laffen’s gift, Mayer said, “Pam and her late husband, Lonnie, shared a deep appreciation for this community. Being raised in a rural area in North Dakota taught them to be actively engaged in their immediate and surrounding communities across the state.”
Contributed / Grand Forks Children’s Museum
At the start of the “Unlocking Tomorrow, Together Challenge,” the $2 million would be released, or “unlocked,” with the receipt of each of eight $250,000 donations. The challenge actually resulted in “securing nearly 10 leadership-level commitments and accelerating the campaign even further,” Mayer said.
A leadership gift of $250,000 from the Pancratz Family Foundation, based with the Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation, has helped to “unlock one of the final keys in the challenge,” according to an announcement from the museum. The gift has added “meaningful momentum at a pivotal time in the campaign.”
The foundation’s commitment to the museum “reflects a strong belief in expanding opportunity for children and families, and helped carry the challenge to completion.”
The final keys to the $2 million matching grant were “propelled by an extraordinary wave of generosity from families and businesses across our community,” Mayer said.
A vertical climber, to be named for Pam Laffen, is designed to physically and symbolically connect the land and sky levels of the museum, Mayer said. It will span two stories and include a slide. Designed to face 42nd Street, it will be visible from the road, serving as a signature feature of the building.
The climber will reflect the guiding phrase “In land, we root. Through sky, we rise. Together, we grow.”
“The words echo both the spirit of the community and the belief that learning, curiosity, exploration and opportunity are built step-by-step, grounded in place and lifted by possibility,” Mayer said.
Kalamazoo — There’ll be a new champion in the NCHC.
Will Zellers scored the game-winning goal in the third period as No. 3 North Dakota downed No. 4 Western Michigan, 5-3, Friday night at Lawson Arena. The Broncos never led and trailed all of the third period, though a late push nearly tied the game with the net empty.
“Overall in the game, I thought it was a pretty tightly contested effort. I thought they just scored too easy,” Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler said. “You know, for us, we had a couple breakdowns, and they’re so talented, so good, they took advantage when we broke down.”
The teams finish the regular season Saturday night. Western Michigan came into Friday’s game tied with Denver in standings points and five points behind North Dakota, needing that many to get a share of the Penrose Cup it won last season en route to an NCAA championship, too.
As far as regular season results go, the Broncos will play for second seed in the NCHC Tournament, needing to outpace Denver, which plays Arizona State this weekend.
Western Michigan (23-9-1, 15-7-1 NCHC) goaltender Hampton Slukynsky made 16 saves on 20 shots in the loss while North Dakota’s Jan Spunar stopped 22 of 25 shots. It was a battle of two of the NCHC’s top netminders, and each made key stops in a tight-checking, physical game.
Zellers put North Dakota (25-7-1, 17-5-1) up 4-2 4:42 into the third period off an assist from Detroit Red Wings draft choice Dylan James.
“He kind of made a play out of nothing there,” said North Dakota coach Dane Jackson, who is in his first season as head coach after being on the coaching staff since 2006. “And that was a really nice kind of moment where you go OK, we got a little got a little leeway here, and we can just kind of play a little bit more free.”
North Dakota took a 3-2 lead into the third period with goals from defenseman Sam Laurila alongside forwards Ollie Josephson and Josh Zakreski. Defenseman Zach Bookman and forward Liam Valente scored for Western Michigan.
One too many times in the second frame, Western Michigan’s blue line let a North Dakota forward in all alone to face Slukynsky, who stopped a couple of rushes in the opening minutes of the period.
With four minutes until the intermission, the Broncos finally got burned. On a feed from linemate Anthony Menghini, Lakreski cut to the glove side of a sprawling Slukynsky and beat him with the backhand. The goal gave North Dakota the 3-2 lead, after a seeing-eye shot from Bookman along the right wall had tied it up two apiece 8:10 into the period.
“I actually thought the second period was our best period,” Ferschweiler said. “… We started to take over. We got the goal, tied 2-2, and are kind of just humming along. Four minutes left, we just hand them a goal. Blown coverage. That was inexcusable, honestly, with some of our better players on the ice.”
The opening period played out as a back and forth track meet through the neutral zone as each side settled in. Laurila put North Dakota up 1-0 with his first career goal. After Slukynsky denied him on a trio of tries earlier in the shift, he fired a shot to beat the Western Michigan netminder 4:40 into the game.
It took just a minute and 34 seconds after Laurila’s opener for Western Michigan’s top line to get it right back. A blue-collar shift from captain Owen Michaels fed linemate Will Whitelaw along the left boards, and he sprung Valente for a breakaway goal that evened up the score.
“I thought we gave it to them too easy a couple times tonight,” Whitelaw said. “And I think when you’re playing a team like that, obviously they’re gonna put it in your net. But I think it’ll be a big lesson for our group going forward.”
For the better part of the first period, the Lawson Lunatics peppered North Dakota defenseman Jake Livanavage with jeers, but he got his own licks in with 7:48 left in the first period as he fed Josephson right at the net for the 2-1 goal. That score held through the first period.
With 2:02 remaining and Slukynsky pulled, forward Zaccharya Wisdom pulled Western Michigan within one. He nearly had the equalizer with 40 seconds on the clock on a backdoor try, but he mistimed the shot. Mac Swanson scored an empty-netter with 20.7 seconds on the clock to clinch the win, and with it the Penrose Cup, presented to North Dakota in the locker room and then paraded around the ice.
“It’s the hardest regular season championship to win, in my opinion,” North Dakota forward Ben Strinden said. “So it’s awesome. Obviously, it’s not our end goal, but we’re going to enjoy it for sure.”
cearegood@detroitnews.com
@ConnorEaregood
At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh
Mass shooting at Austin, Texas bar leaves at least 3 dead, 14 wounded, authorities say
Newsom’s ‘disgraceful’ call for Dems to be ‘culturally normal’ is ‘dangerous,’ far-left podcaster says
Judge orders Ilhan Omar attack suspect to remain in custody pending trial
RICK PERRY: Where’s the beef? Trump knows and he’s trying to make it affordable
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh
Mass shooting at Austin, Texas bar leaves at least 3 dead, 14 wounded, authorities say
Mamdani’s response to Trump’s Iran strike sparks conservative backlash: ‘Rooting for the ayatollah’
Activists hail ‘historic’ EU’s decision on accessible abortion
A long-buried recording and the Supreme Court of old (CT+) : Consider This from NPR
-
World3 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts4 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Denver, CO4 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Louisiana6 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Technology1 week agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT