Stories of agency, courage, strength and resilience have long been passed down through oral traditions in Black communities. Through those stories, generations learned about their lineage, life lessons and the people who helped carve pathways toward freedom and opportunity.
In the St. Louis region, the lives of Priscilla Baltimore, Annie Turnbo Malone and Margaret Bush Wilson have been remembered in that tradition — through church histories, community storytelling, family accounts and historical scholarship. Each woman lived in a different era, yet all helped shape the region’s future. One helped establish a freedom settlement across the Mississippi River. Another built a business empire that created jobs and opportunity for Black women. The third fought for justice through the legal system and civil rights activism.
Together, their stories illustrate how Black women helped move St. Louis and Missouri forward.
Priscilla Baltimore: Building a freedom community
The history of Brooklyn, Illinois — just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis — centers on Priscilla Baltimore, often called Mother Baltimore.
Baltimore was born into slavery around 1805 in Bourbon County, Kentucky. She was sold several times, including by the man believed to be her enslaver and biological father. Through persistence and sacrifice, she eventually purchased her freedom for about $1,100.
According to historical accounts, Baltimore later worked to secure freedom for members of her family, first her mother and then her second husband, John Tobias Baltimore, by mortgaging property in St. Louis.
In 1829, Priscilla and John Baltimore led 11 families from Missouri across the Mississippi River into Illinois. The group included John and Matilda Anderson, Philip and Josephine Sullivan, James and Elizabeth Singleton, Daniel and Sarah Wilson, Russell Cox, a woman known as Mrs. Wyatt and Nicholas Carper.
Their settlement became Brooklyn, founded as a community for newly emancipated and free Black residents seeking safety and independence. Faith and family were central to the town’s foundation, and Brooklyn also became a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Although the growth of nearby East St. Louis limited Brooklyn’s development as a regional economic center, the community endured. By 1880, census records showed 371 Black residents and 203 white residents.
Baltimore’s influence extended well beyond the town itself. She helped establish St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church and was later described by her pastor, the Rev. Henderson, as the “mother of African Methodism in the West.” By 1882 the congregation had grown to more than 2,000 members.
She was also remembered for an extraordinary act of leadership. Historical accounts report that Baltimore once recruited 300 enslaved people to cross the Mississippi River to attend a religious service led by Bishop William Paul Quinn, a traveling AME missionary. When a ferry captain hesitated to transport them, Baltimore reportedly assured him, “I will be their security.”
Baltimore died in 1882, but her legacy continues to shape regional history. In recent years, archaeologists working with local leaders have explored artifacts from the original 19th-century settlement in Brooklyn.
Annie Turnbo Malone: Building economic opportunity
Nearly a century after Baltimore helped establish a freedom community, Annie Turnbo Malone transformed St. Louis through entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
Born in Metropolis, Illinois, in 1869, Malone recognized an opportunity to create hair care products designed specifically for Black women. In 1900 she introduced Wonderful Hair Grower in Lovejoy, Illinois, and soon expanded her business to St. Louis.
By 1910 she had trademarked “Poro,” a line of beauty products that became a nationwide brand.
Malone’s company created opportunities for Black women across the country as sales agents, clerical workers and factory employees. Among those she trained as a sales agent was Sarah Breedlove McWilliams — later known as Madam C. J. Walker.
As her business grew, Malone built Poro College in the Ville neighborhood, one of St. Louis’ most prominent Black communities. When it opened in 1920, the $1 million complex became far more than a training site for beauty professionals.
Poro College served as a cultural and economic hub for African Americans who were often excluded from hotels, entertainment venues and other public spaces during segregation. The campus included classrooms, laboratories, a theater, dormitories, manufacturing facilities and gathering spaces.
Malone also became known for her philanthropy. She donated generously to institutions including the Pine Street YMCA Branch, St. James AME Church and the St. Louis Colored Orphans Home, which was later renamed in her honor.
Her contributions extended beyond St. Louis as well, including major gifts to Howard University Medical School, Tuskegee Institute and Wilberforce University.
Although a difficult divorce in 1927 reduced much of her wealth, Malone’s legacy as a pioneer of Black entrepreneurship and philanthropy remains deeply woven into the history of St. Louis.
Margaret Bush Wilson: Fighting for justice
Margaret Bush Wilson carried that legacy into the fight for civil rights.
Born in St. Louis on Jan. 30, 1919, Wilson grew up in the Ville during segregation. Her parents, James T. Bush and Margaret Casey Bush, were active members of the NAACP, and her childhood was shaped by educators and community leaders committed to Black advancement.
Wilson graduated as valedictorian of Sumner High School in 1935 and later earned honors at Talladega College. While studying there, she traveled abroad through the Juliette Derricotte Fellowship and met Mahatma Gandhi, an experience that strengthened her commitment to civil rights.
She continued her education at Lincoln University School of Law, created after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Gaines v. Canada required Missouri to provide in-state legal education for Black students.
In 1943 Wilson became the second Black woman admitted to practice law in Missouri.
She and her husband, Robert E. Wilson, opened the law firm Wilson & Associates, serving the St. Louis community for more than 40 years.
Wilson played a role in the landmark Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer in 1948, which struck down racially restrictive housing covenants. She also helped mobilize legal support during the 1963 Jefferson Bank demonstrations protesting discriminatory hiring practices.
Beyond her legal career, Wilson served nine terms as chair of the NAACP’s national board of directors and later led the St. Louis chapter.
In 1948 she also made history as the first Black woman in Missouri to run for Congress.
Wilson died in 2009 at age 90, leaving a legacy that continues to shape the region’s civil rights history.
A shared legacy
Priscilla Baltimore, Annie Turnbo Malone and Margaret Bush Wilson lived in different centuries, but their lives reflect a shared tradition of leadership.
Baltimore helped create a place of refuge for freedom seekers. Malone built economic opportunity and invested in Black institutions. Wilson used the law to challenge injustice and expand civil rights.
Their stories — preserved through oral history, community memory and historical scholarship — remind us that the progress of St. Louis and Missouri has been shaped in profound ways by Black women whose courage and vision helped move the region forward.
Cicely Hunter is the public historian for the African American History Initiative at the Missouri Historical Society.