Since the founding of St. Louis, African Americans have lived in communities throughout the area. Although St. Louis' 1916 'Segregation of the Negro Ordinance' was ruled unconstitutional, African Americans were restricted to certain areas through real estate practices such as steering and red lining. Through legal efforts in the court cases of Shelley v. Kraemer in 1948, Jones v. Mayer in 1978, and others, more housing options became available and the population dispersed. Many of the comm...

Since the founding of St. Louis in 1764, Downtown St. Louis has been a center of black cultural, economic, political, and legal achievements that have shaped not only the city of St. Louis, but the nation as well. From James Beckworth, one of the founders of Denver, Colorado, to Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln's seamstress and author of the only behind-the-scenes account of Lincoln's White House years, black residents of Downtown St. Louis have made an indelible mark in American histo...

Located just outside of St. Louis, Kinloch was once a community locked off from the rest of the area by natural and man-made barriers. In spite of a lack of financial resources, it once provided its residents with a school district, city hall, post office, business district, and recreational facilities. Residents will recognize Dunbar Elementary, the oldest school for blacks in St. Louis County, Holy Angels, the oldest continuing black parish in the St. Louis Archdiocese, as well as former...

The first civil government in Florissant was established in 1786, three years before the United States adopted its constitution and George Washington was elected the country's first president. French farmers and fur trappers looked upon the land and called it the "Valle Fleurissant"-which is to say, "the flowering or fertile valley." The community remained small until after World War II. Between 1950 and 1980, the population grew from 3,737 to 76,754. Today the community strives to preserv...

The city of St. Louis is known for its African American citizens and their many contributions to the culture within its borders, the country, and the world. Images of Modern America: African American St. Louis profiles some of the events that helped shape St. Louis from the 1960s to the present. Tracing key milestones in the city's history, this book attempts to pay homage to those African Americans who sacrificed to advance fair socioeconomic conditions for all. In the closing decades of ...

African Americans have been a part of Missouri from its territorial days to the present, making significant contributions across myriad professions as pioneers, educators, civil rights activists, and journalists, to name a few. Now in its second edition, Extraordinary Black Missourians profiles more than 100 notable citizens, such as Grace Bumbry, George Washington Carver, Elizabeth Keckley, Frankie Freeman, Scott Joplin, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, James Beckwourth, and others who have ...

Clement Delor de Treget, a Frenchman, founded Carondelet in 1767 and named the village in honor of Baron Francis Louis de Carondelet, the Spanish governor of the Louisiana Territory. Due to its prime location at the confluence of the River Des Peres and the Mississippi River, Carondelet attracted a wide array of industries and a diverse population where racial lines were often blurred and ethnic groups peacefully coexisted. The community hascontributed greatly to American history from the ...

Winner of an Abraham Lincoln Institute Book AwardThough not blind to Abraham Lincoln's imperfections, Black Americans long ago laid a heartfelt claim to his legacy. At the same time, they have consciously reshaped the sixteenth president's image for their own social and political ends. Frederick Hord and Matthew D. Norman's anthology explores the complex nature of views on Lincoln through the writings and thought of Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Mc...

While mainly reflective poetry about life, family, faith, nature, and the magnificence of the universe, Sparkles in a Diamond's Heart also contains flashes of humor, satire, and practical theology.