Mary Meachum – a double blessing
By Dr. Theresa Mayberry-Dunn
Guest Columnist
Nothing about history is dead or static. Instead, history is incredibly dynamic. And it is here that we revisit Linda Jo Smith’s recent article in the American, “The Mary Meachum double-crossing.”
More than 100 years ago, Grace Hill was founded with the simple mission of helping immigrant families settle into their new neighborhood on the near north side of St. Louis. At that time, Seeing a need, Grace Hill began working with the poor and underprivileged families arriving from Ireland, Germany, Poland, and Italy coming to this country in hope of beginning a new and better history.
Since then, Grace Hill has become a name synonymous with service, social action, quality and continuity of care – a fundamental philosophy of “neighbors helping neighbors.” Key among that philosophy is setting the neighbors we serve on a path to self-sufficiency.
Grace Hill provides a hand up, not a hand out. From the people we serve, we demand a profound and honest effort. Escaping the grasp of poverty is a huge task, and our programs make that challenge easier, but it is still a monumental challenge. At Grace Hill, challenging our neighbors, challenging our region’s citizens, challenging our regions leaders is key to who we are. And, it is in that vein that we became involved in the development of the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing.
The Riverfront Trail, the site of the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing, is managed and promoted primarily by the Grace Hill Settlement House AmeriCorps Trail Rangers, young adults from North St. Louis who care about their community. It is because of their involvement with the Trail that Grace Hill Settlement House became the local community sponsor of the Mary Meachum site.
When developing the site, we knew that the history of slavery in the United States, and the Underground Railroad in specific, was only given cursory attention in our school history classes. In this, Grace Hill saw a challenge and an opportunity – to educate an often racially-divided city on what is an important part of its past.
One man literally owning another man is as provocative a subject as there is. (When the slaves involved in the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing were those of St. Louis patriarch Henry Shaw, the subject is even more provocative.) It is challenging to understand how and why slavery took hold and how and why it was fought.
The Mary Meachum site is much more than visiting our riverfront, skipping rocks into the river, waving at the towboats captions. We’re developing the site to engage visitors and provoke tough questions.
So, it is with great pleasure that we read Linda Jo Smith article. Smith was moved by the Mary Meachum site enough and cared enough to ask challenging questions. For all the hard work of Washington University Historian Kris Zapalac, there is still so much about Mary Meachum and her story that we do not know. We whole heartedly agree with Smith’s words: “we must commit to becoming readers and writers of history.” We hope that visitors to the site realize how much they can help fill in the details. Our history, the history of St. Louis, is still evolving. We feel that visitors truly moved by the Mary Meachum site can only help this evolution.
Missouri native Mark Twain said that “The product of slavery, intellectual or physical, can never be great.” The further study of that history though most definitely can be great.
So, thank you, Linda Jo Smith for caring enough to share thoughts. This is exactly why Grace Hill is developing the site. Continue to dig deeper and realize this history is not static. Not dead.
Dr. Theresa Mayberry-Dunn is president/CEO of Grace Hill Settlement House.