Missouri History Museum Showcases Local Black Legends
We’re going to skip right to the good part.
Did y’all know a civil rights activist by the name of Percy Green once climbed the Gateway Arch during its construction in 1964 to protest for the inclusion of black workers on the project? Mr. Percy is also the man we can thank for St. Louis Supreme Court case McDonnell Douglas v. Green, (establishing burden of proof rules in employment discrimination cases). He’s recognized as the founder of a council that believed in aggressive but nonviolent confrontation, called ACTION. Action Counsel To Improve Opportunities for Negroes!
Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, we can move on to other notable Black icons with roots right here. The father of rock ‘n’ roll was born in St. Louis on October 18, 1926. Legendary Chuck Berry! Did y’all know this man is the 1st person to be inducted into the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame?
In 1977 they launched his record “Johnny B Goode” into space aboard the Voyager Space Probes. Berry’s legacy can be felt all over Delmar Loop after having played 200+ concerts at Blueberry Hill. Now do y’all see why alien spaceship Chinese satellites trying to see what’s good in the hood? They can come close, but they’ll never be able to transform music into such artistry the way we do in the Lou.
There was never a wonder why the St. Louis music scene was so invigorating, people just seemed to gravitate towards the culture. Although they were born in the south, Ike and Tina Turner actually formed their band here during the 60s while 16 year old Anna Mae Bullock, aka Tina Turner, was a student at Sumner High School. Visit her star at 6378 Delmar on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Side quest: Go drive by the old Club Imperial at Goodfellow and West Florissant where the band played back in the day.
The Black history is so underrated in the Midwest; partially due to the fact we don’t like to brag out here, and because people are simply uninformed. Can you count how many times you’ve driven past the arch and thought about sitting on top of it? Think about Percy Green next time. When you start to feel ill and you go to the ER again, for your health while you’re waiting, read up on the Homer G. Phillips Hospital. Reigning as the only public hospital for African-Americans in St. Louis from 1937 to 1979, located at 2601 North Whittier St. in The Ville, it is now a landmark after being once recognized as having trained the largest number of Black doctors and nurses in the world.
When you get to be at your big age and find out all the pertinent history that was “kept” from you as a child and young adult, you should naturally feel a strong desire to disperse such information as quickly as possible. In an era like today, were our history is literally being erased, we should talk less about the problem and more about the solution. Share this information and article with your peers, and more importantly, Gen Z.