Gordon Parks, who was photographer, musician, writer and film director, died on March 7, 2006. This article originally appeared on June 13, 2003 in the Nieman Reports.
Dr. Ralph J. Bunche earned the moniker “a hero of U.S. Diplomacy,” in part for efforts that led to his becoming the first African American to win the Noble Peace Prize.
In her early years, Alethia Browning Tanner sold vegetables in a produce stall near President’s Square – now known as Lafayette Square – in Northwest Washington, D.C.
During this Black History Month, you might be surprised at whom I'd pick as my all-time African American hero. My greatest inspiration comes from my great-great grandfather, Ned Rounds.
Aldermanic President Lewis Reed’s campaign had taken the lead in fundraising by almost $75,000, according to a new round of campaign finance reports filed Monday.
Founded on May 15, 1904, in Philadelphia, PA., Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, also known as the Boule, is the oldest Black Greek-Lettered Fraternity. Having always been non-collegiate, it was designed for professionals at mid-career or older. When Sigma Pi Phi was founded, black professionals we…
The Saint Louis Art Museum has acquired a ceramic vessel signed and dated by David Drake (c.1801–1870s), an enslaved artist who is recognized as one of America’s most important 19th-century ceramicists. The museum purchased the work in December for $155,000.
featured
Barbara Jordan, a Texas Congressional Democrat, was a powerful orator and a no-nonsense legislator whose political career was meteoric. She honed her vibrant, eloquent voice in brilliant dissertations before huge television audiences pleading that justice should not be exclusively for the el…
featured
To commemorate Black History Month, Black-owned media companies Rolling Out and BlackBookStore.com, in collaboration with Penguin Random House, have launched a historic content partnership called #AmplifyBlackStories. Company representatives said the initiative's mission is to introduce more…
Mary Eliza Mahoney in 1879 was the first Black person in the United States to earn a nursing degree.
featured
Mary T. Washington Wylie made history when she became the first Black woman Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the United States. She was also the 13th Black CPA in the country. Wylie’s CPA designation and accounting firm opened the doors for the next generation of Black CPAs. It became th…
The St. Louis American celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Vashon Wolverines basketball team that won the Missouri Class L state championship.
February 8
featured
When naming heroes and heroines of the modern civil rights movement you know of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, John Lewis and the many others who marched, protested and, in some cases, gave their lives. The list is endless, and the stories of heroes are a source of inspiration…
featured
Christian Hospital’s Annual King luncheon to be held online Jan. 15
featured
The story of St. Rita’s Academy—a convent and parochial school for Black girls—begins decades before the academy’s founding in 1912.
featured
Two traditional events at the Missouri History Museum and the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum will be held virtually this year: the Día de los Muertos festival and the Veterans Day parade.
featured
The history of women’s activism in St. Louis began long before 1920, when Missouri ratified the 19th Amendment and gave women the right to vote. A new book from the Missouri Historical Society Press, Groundbreakers, Rule-breakers & Rebels: 50 Unstoppable St. Louis Women, tells the storie…
On February 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached a sermon entitled “The Drum Major’s Instinct” at Ebenezer Baptist Church exactly two months before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
featured
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) will give the keynote speech at the Kick-Off Program for the 33rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Statewide Celebration at 6:30 p.m. Friday, February 8 in the Main Auditorium of the Dr. Henry Givens, Jr. Administration Building at Harris-Stowe State…
Local artist Paul Stanton visited the Academy Journalism club at Pierre Laclede Junior Career Academy on February 15 to discuss local black history, his portraits of historic black people from the St. Louis area (such as Annie Malone, Josephine Baker, Dick Gregory, Arthur Ashe and Chuck Berr…
Several months ago, a former patient came to St. Louis Children’s Hospital looking to make a donation. It was her way of thanking someone she remembered from a long-ago stay in the hospital, a woman who had taken care of her in 1959. The patient had been two years old, sick with polio and qu…
When Donald M. Suggs is asked to tell the story of how he came to be the publisher of The St. Louis American, he goes back to the beginning. In an interview with Suggs at the Missouri History Museum on Wednesday, November 8, Suggs shared the narrative of both his life and the paper’s history…
He is only 10 years old, but Bud has the type of resilience and resourcefulness that will inspire all those who see his journey unfold on stage for the Metro Theater and Jazz St. Louis presentation of “Bud, Not Buddy” playing through February 25 at The Grandel Theatre.
A site where many blacks from the rural South migrated during the Great Migration turned into what some would say a nightmare. Pruitt-Igoe was fully demolished in 1972.
The Missouri Historical Society wants to prove it is more relevant than ever to St. Louis’ diverse population, and during Black History Month, African-American St. Louisans will have an opportunity to see more of the society’s new mission.
In the wake of so much civic dysfunction, the work of Martin Luther Mathews and Hubert “Dickey” Ballentine shines a light on how to build comity and community.
Steven N. Cousins, a Financial and Real Estate Services partner at Armstrong Teasdale, was honored by The Missouri Bar Foundation with its 2017 Martin J. Purcell award. The award acknowledges outstanding professionalism in a Missouri lawyer who has consistently demonstrated an exceptional de…
August 27, 1918 – December 10, 2017
Psychologist and activist Joseph L. White – whose trailblazing work revolutionized the way African Americans are understood in psychology and was affectionately referred to as the "godfather" of his field by students, mentees and colleagues – died Nov. 21, 2017 at the age of 84.
Who in the world is Charles 67X?
When peaceful and diverse protestors disrupted the German festival Oktoberfest in St. Charles County to bring attention to issues of social justice and the acquittal of former police officer Jason Stokely for the murder of Anthony Lamar Smith, there were interesting parallels and ironies wit…
I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. When I returned home for my brother’s memorial service, the city looked different.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year, the St. Louis Science Center (SLSC) celebrated a local legacy of black achievement. Lewis Diuguid, author and longtime Kansas City Star journalist, visited SLSC to share memories of his father, pioneering black chemist Lincoln Diuguid.
(St. Louis Public Radio) - Dr. Bernard C. Randolph, a member of a small, tight-knit cadre of African-American doctors in St. Louis who began their practices during segregation, was as much civil rights leader as healer.
In a small, white, shotgun-style building tucked discreetly off Kingshighway Boulevard near Natural Bridge, a group of elderly veterans meets regularly. These are the men and women of Amvets Post #67. They have served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and other far-away skirmishes. They meet t…
On January 2, 1957, I was escorted by my mother and her friend Robert to Union Station to catch the train for Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas to begin my basic training. It was a cold, dark night. I boarded the train with a number of other recruits. I was filled with a lot of …
In 1996, Loretta Ford founded the Museum of Black Inventors with the idea of highlighting the achievements of often unsung African Americans who contributed greatly to the fields of science, household goods, engineering and technology.
The Sheldon Art Galleries presents “Higher Ground: Honoring Washington Park Cemetery, Its People and Place,” an unprecedented multimedia exhibition, March 3 – August 26, in both the Bernoudy Gallery of Architecture and the Gallery of Photography. An opening reception is scheduled for 5-7 p.m…
The strategy for the upcoming mayoral race in St. Louis African-American community appears to be again divide and conquer.
(Continued from Feb. 2-8 Black History Month Section)
The Missouri Humanities Council awarded the National Blues Museum, in partnership with HEC-TV, museum a grant of $12,000 to support the “Music Moved the Movement: Civil Rights and the Blues” education program focusing on the links between the Blues and the Civil Rights Movement.
Governor Eric Greitens was among the guest speakers when the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus recently celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Greitens, who was the first governor in recent years to attend the annual event, shared a story about his efforts to plan one of the fir…
On January 6, a day before the West African nation of Ghana changed leadership (President John Dramani Mahama lost the election to Nana Akufo-Addo), I was blessed to receive my Ghana citizenship along with Bro. Earl 3X Reddix from Las Vegas. I received a call that if I was going to receive m…
Continued from last week’s Black History Month section
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL) is celebrating a pivotal and significant milestone this 2017 – its 50th year of service to countless boys and girls in the St. Louis region.
I was born here in St. Louis on December 25, 1940. Due to my humble beginnings, no one would have believed that I would become a successful movie actor and singer. There are so many youngsters today whose life mirrors my childhood, young people who don’t believe tomorrow holds any hope for t…
I first came to Chicago when I was in my early 20s. And I was still trying to figure out who I was, still searching for a purpose in my life. And it was a neighborhood not far from here where I began working with church groups in the shadows of closed steel mills. It was on these streets whe…
Preston Lee Bouie was born on January 22, 1926 to Vennie Bouie and Emma Reed. He attended Wyman Crow Elementary School and a graduate of Vashon High School, class of June, 1944. He served two years in the United States Navy with an honorable discharge. His career with the St. Louis Fire Depa…
The author of a new book called “African American St. Louis” hopes images of the past will help people better understand the issues of today.
Commented