PEOPLE

In 1817, Susan, a slave, sued for her freedom in St. Charles District, Missouri Territory, on the same basis that Dred Scott would use 30 years later. Susan stated that she had lived in free territory before coming to St. Charles. After a jury found against her, her attorneys appealed to the Superior Court, where the verdict was reversed and the case sent back to St. Charles. The case would not be disposed until October 13, 1821, which makes it the first freedom suit decided after Missouri statehood. This time, the Circuit Court sided with Susan. Her freedom was affirmed and the defendant Henry Hight ordered to pay the cost of her appeal.

View Susan's entire St. Charles Circuit Court case files online: http://repository.wustl.edu/concern/texts/pc289k102. View Susan's entire Superior Court case file online: https://www.sos.mo.gov//CMSImages/Archives/Bicentennial/Archives/SupremeCourt/B092F11.pdf.

In 1817, Susan, a slave, sued for her freedom in St. Charles District, Missouri Territory, on the same basis that Dred Scott would use 30 years later. Susan stated that she had lived in free territory before coming to St. Charles. After a jury found against her, her attorneys appealed to the Superior Court, where the verdict was reversed and the case sent back to St. Charles. The case would not be disposed until October 13, 1821, which makes it the first freedom suit decided after Missouri statehood. This time, the Circuit Court sided with Susan. Her freedom was affirmed and the defendant Henry Hight ordered to pay the cost of her appeal.

View Susan's entire St. Charles Circuit Court case files online: http://repository.wustl.edu/concern/texts/pc289k102. View Susan's entire Superior Court case file online: https://www.sos.mo.gov//CMSImages/Archives/Bicentennial/Archives/SupremeCourt/B092F11.pdf.

In 1846, slave Dred Scott and his wife Harriet Scott sued their slave owner for their freedom. The freedom suits went through many iterations in the courts, including the St. Louis Circuit Court, the Missouri Supreme Court, and ultimately the United States Supreme Court. The case is considered a landmark in U.S. history and decided the issue of personhood regarding slaves. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Scotts. These are the original 1846 petitions filed by Dred and Harriet Scott in the St. Louis Circuit Court.

Courtesy of Washington University Special Collections. To read more about this complicated case, visit Washington University's Revised Dred Scott Case Collection.

In 1846, slave Dred Scott and his wife Harriet Scott sued their slave owner for their freedom. The freedom suits went through many iterations in the courts, including the St. Louis Circuit Court, the Missouri Supreme Court, and ultimately the United States Supreme Court. The case is considered a landmark in U.S. history and decided the issue of personhood regarding slaves. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Scotts. These are the original 1846 petitions filed by Dred and Harriet Scott in the St. Louis Circuit Court.

Courtesy of Washington University Special Collections. To read more about this complicated case, visit Washington University's Revised Dred Scott Case Collection.

Missouri was a slave state. However, free blacks could reside in the state provided they had paperwork attesting to and certifying their freedom. The month before civil hostilities began, Henry Good, a free-born resident of Knox County, provided a $500 bond and applied for a license to reside within the state.

Courtesy of Knox County Clerk.

Missouri was a slave state. However, free blacks could reside in the state provided they had paperwork attesting to and certifying their freedom. The month before civil hostilities began, Henry Good, a free-born resident of Knox County, provided a $500 bond and applied for a license to reside within the state.

Courtesy of Knox County Clerk.

Missouri was a slave state. However, free blacks could reside in the state provided they had paperwork attesting to and certifying their freedom. The month before civil hostilities began, Henry Good, a free-born resident of Knox County, provided a $500 bond and applied for a license to reside within the state.

Courtesy of Knox County Clerk.

Missouri was a slave state. However, free blacks could reside in the state provided they had paperwork attesting to and certifying their freedom. The month before civil hostilities began, Henry Good, a free-born resident of Knox County, provided a $500 bond and applied for a license to reside within the state.

Courtesy of Knox County Clerk.

After the Civil War, African-Americans in St. Louis could only ride streetcars on outside platforms. Neptune M. Williams and his wife Caroline sued the Bellefontaine Railway Company in 1867 after Caroline was thrown off a car by the conductor and injured. She had been attempting to sit inside a car while she was pregnant and carrying her two-year-old child. The Williamses sought $5,000 in damages. Although the jury found in their favor, they were awarded just one cent in restitution.

Courtesy of St. Louis City Circuit Court. Read the full case file online.

The Attuck Guard company of Missouri National Guard was organized in 1874 as a segregated African-American unit. A series of state laws in the 1870s and 1880s, combined with the 1903 Federal Militia Act, turned Missouri militia units into an efficient and organized force of citizen soldiers. The National Guard was officially desegregated along with other branches of the military by President Truman's Executive Order 9981 in 1948, although actual integration would not occur until the late 1950s.

Source: RG133.02 Missouri National Guard.

Although the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlawed housing discrimination, racial property restrictions were common before then. This petition for restrictive property covenants in the Gudgell Park Addition, Independence, includes that no premises shall be "sold, conveyed, leased, nor rented to any person who is not of the white or Caucasian race."

Courtesy of Independence City Clerk.

Although the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 outlawed housing discrimination, racial property restrictions were common before then. This petition for restrictive property covenants in the Gudgell Park Addition, Independence, includes that no premises shall be "sold, conveyed, leased, nor rented to any person who is not of the white or Caucasian race."

Courtesy of Independence City Clerk.

On April 9, 1968, Kansas City public schools did not close for the funeral of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This, combined with outrage over King's assassination, led to peaceful, permitted demonstrations that concluded at City Hall. Violence erupted when police shot tear gas into the crowd. Five people were killed in the ensuing riot.

Courtesy of University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1968 Riot Collection #113. View this photograph collection online.

The first treaty with the Osage peoples of Missouri was finalized in 1808 in St. Louis. It established Fort Osage in future Jackson County as a federal trade factory where furs and pelts could be exchanged and payments specified for land. It also established Osage hunting rights within ceded lands and provided for dispute resolution. Pictured here is a lunette mural by Walter Ufer on display in the State Capitol Building showing Pierre Chouteau negotiating with Osages.

Source: RG395.2 Missouri State Capitol Commission Photograph Collection #RG395_Series3_172, courtesy of Missouri State Capitol Commission and MSA. Photo by Scott Thomas.

This map is an approximation of Native residency and usage in Missouri. The orange area north of the Missouri River, the green area south of the River, and the strip along the western border south of the River represent Osage peoples. The pink area along the Mississippi River was Sac, and the blue area of the Platte Purchase was home to various tribes, some of whom had been relocated from east of the Mississippi.

Courtesy of Smithsonian Libraries, Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, 1896-97, Part 2 Plate CXLIV.

This was an Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi. And so by its approval on 28 May 1830, Congress required all native peoples east of the Mississippi to be forcibly dispossessed of their lands. Although numerous treaties had previously been made for native lands, this blanket act obviated the need for any future agreements.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Acts of the Twenty-First Congress of the United States, pp. 411-412.

This was an Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi. And so by its approval on 28 May 1830, Congress required all native peoples east of the Mississippi to be forcibly dispossessed of their lands. Although numerous treaties had previously been made for native lands, this blanket act obviated the need for any future agreements.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Acts of the Twenty-First Congress of the United States, pp. 411-412.

The Trail of Tears wound its way through Missouri. Thousands of displaced Cherokees walked from Georgia or other points east to Indian Territory in Oklahoma via the Trail. Many died along the way. Although the removal was a federal initiative, Missouri had to become involved when travelers crossed its land. Occasionally, violence erupted such as the murder of Cherokee men Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot by other Cherokee. Major Ridge was the main signatory of the Treaty of New Echota and many other Cherokee resented him because of that. This letter is from Brigadier General Matthew Arbuckle asking Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs to activate the militia.

Source: RG3.06 Governor Lilburn Boggs Collection, item dated 10/05/1839. View the Boggs Collection online.

The Trail of Tears wound its way through Missouri. Thousands of displaced Cherokees walked from Georgia or other points east to Indian Territory in Oklahoma via the Trail. Many died along the way. Although the removal was a federal initiative, Missouri had to become involved when travelers crossed its land. Occasionally, violence erupted such as the murder of Cherokee men Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot by other Cherokee. Major Ridge was the main signatory of the Treaty of New Echota and many other Cherokee resented him because of that. This letter is from Brigadier General Matthew Arbuckle asking Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs to activate the militia.

Source: RG3.06 Governor Lilburn Boggs Collection, item dated 10/05/1839. View the Boggs Collection online.

Trade with Native Americans was tightly regulated by the federal and state governments. A Holt County grand jury indicted Nancy Burrows in 1843 for trading liquor worth twenty-five cents with Indians in exchange for two deer skins, two raccoon skins, one otter skin, three bear skins and two pairs of moccasins, all without a permit.

Courtesy of Holt County Circuit Court.

Trade with Native Americans was tightly regulated by the federal and state governments. A Holt County grand jury indicted Nancy Burrows in 1843 for trading liquor worth twenty-five cents with Indians in exchange for two deer skins, two raccoon skins, one otter skin, three bear skins and two pairs of moccasins, all without a permit.

Courtesy of Holt County Circuit Court.

Trade with Native Americans was tightly regulated by the federal and state governments. A Holt County grand jury indicted Nancy Burrows in 1843 for trading liquor worth twenty-five cents with Indians in exchange for two deer skins, two raccoon skins, one otter skin, three bear skins and two pairs of moccasins, all without a permit.

Courtesy of Holt County Circuit Court.

John W. Kelly ran afoul of the law in 1841 when he gave a written permit to five Native Americans to hunt in Holt County for two days. Kelly was not an Indian agent, nor did he have the authority to give the permit. Shown is the indictment against him.

Courtesy of Holt County Circuit Court.

John W. Kelly ran afoul of the law in 1841 when he gave a written permit to five Native Americans to hunt in Holt County for two days. Kelly was not an Indian agent, nor did he have the authority to give the permit. Shown is the indictment against him.

Courtesy of Holt County Circuit Court.

John W. Kelly ran afoul of the law in 1841 when he gave a written permit to five Native Americans to hunt in Holt County for two days. Kelly was not an Indian agent, nor did he have the authority to give the permit. Shown is the indictment against him.

Courtesy of Holt County Circuit Court.

There are no reservations in Missouri. However, today there are members of several tribes who live in or travel to Missouri, especially for special events such as this For the People Pow Wow held in Jefferson City in May 2016. Big Soldier Creek, a drum group from Mayetta, Kansas, performs in the foreground.

Courtesy of Greg Olson.

In 1764 Liguest, accompanied by his stepson Auguste Chouteau, chose the spot for a trading post on the Mississippi River and named it St. Louis. Shown: his signature from a deed of gift dated May 4, 1768.

Courtesy of Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis.

In 1820, Benton was first person from Missouri elected to the U.S. Senate, the beginning of five successive terms and one later term in the U.S. House. A Jacksonian Democrat, Benton remained a lifelong advocate of western expansion. He led a controversial life, stemming from his slave ownership and subsequent reversal in favor of abolition to his duel with Charles Lucas whom he shot and killed on Bloody Island.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, photo by Mathew Brady dated 1844-1858, control #2004663877.

The name Eads immediately conjures images of Eads Bridge, but Eads accomplished much more than that. He designed a diving bell used for salvaging sunken ships, a twin-hulled salvage boat he called a submarine, and some of the first ironclad boats used in the Civil War. Shown here is the U.S.S. St. Louis, his first ironclad.

Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration RG165 Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, 1860-1952, 19th Century Prints Brady and Quartermaster Photographic Prints and Other Civil War Views #165-C-630 533123. View this photograph collection online.

John William Boone was born in 1864 in a Saline County military camp. Illness destroyed his eyesight at the age of six months. While in his teens, he began performing publicly, mastering composing, writing, and arranging. In 1912, he signed an exclusive, five-year contract to play eleven songs to be recorded on player piano rolls.

Courtesy of The State Historical Society of Missouri Blind Boone Heritage Foundation Collection, #CA6088.

A man of great intellectual curiosity, George Washington Carver grew up in Diamond, Missouri. He was born a slave in 1864 and raised by his former slave owners Moses and Susan Carver. Carver pursued higher education in Iowa despite many earlier setbacks in Missouri and Kansas. He was a gifted plant scientist who taught at Tuskegee University in Alabama for his whole career. Carver made many advances in plant science and agriculture. He is pictured here in his chemistry lab at Tuskegee, c1902.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, control #2014646471.

Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis on June 3, 1906. She grew up in the city with difficulty, but it was here that as a teenager she learned to dance. Still in her teens, Baker moved to New York and then to France in the late 1920s. She quickly gained fame in France as an alluring cabaret performer. She ultimately came to claim French citizenship and lived there for the rest of her life. During the Civil Rights Movement, Baker visited the U.S. on several occasions speaking at the March on Washington, D.C. with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Baker was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 1995.

Source: RG395.2 Missouri State Capitol Commission Photograph Collection #RG395_Series3_178, courtesy of Missouri State Capitol Commission and MSA. Photo by Scott Thomas.

Before the 1954 United States Supreme Court ruling Brown vs. Board of Education that desegregated public schools, the University of Missouri did not accept any African-American students. In 1939, Lucile Bluford, a journalist for the Kansas City Call, applied to the University of Missouri School of Journalism as a graduate student. She was accepted into the program, but University officials turned her away when she tried to register for classes. Bluford, with the help of the NAACP, sued the University of Missouri for admittance, as there was no journalism program at an African-American university in Missouri. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in Bluford's favor in 1941. Rather than admit Bluford, the University of Missouri closed their entire graduate journalism program. In 1989, the University of Missouri awarded Bluford an honorary doctorate.

Source: RG600 Supreme Court of Missouri State ex rel Bluford vs. Canada.

Women's suffrage activist Virginia Minor brought suit against St. Louis County Registrar Reese Happersett in 1873. Happersett had refused to let her register to vote because she was a woman. Minor said that the 14th Amendment grants all peoples the right to vote. The case was argued in St. Louis, at the Missouri Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court decided against Minor and did not allow women the right to vote. Sadly, Minor would spend the rest of her life advocating for this basic right and die before it was finally granted nationwide in 1920. Pictured here is the first page of her Missouri Supreme Court case file.

Source: RG600 Missouri Supreme Court Virginia L. Minor et al. vs. Reese Happersett.

In 1919, Ellen "Nell" Donnelly established the Donnelly Garment Company along with her husband Paul. Nell Donnelly focused on creating affordable dresses for women of a variety of sizes. The company flourished during the Great Depression, and by 1953 the Donnelly Garment Company was the largest dress manufacturer in the world.

Courtesy of The State Historical Society of Missouri.

Born in 1908 in St. Louis, Martha Gellhorn was one of the foremost war correspondents of the 20th century. She was the only woman to land in Normandy on June 6, 1944; she had stowed away in a hospital ship bathroom and disguised herself as a stretcher bearer.

Courtesy of St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds and Vital Records Registrar.

In 1852, Thomas Weaver of Nodaway County bound his nine-year-old son, William Harvey Weaver, to Cornelius N. Scott. Scott agreed to treat William humanely, feed and clothe him as his own, educate him, and to give him a horse, saddle and bridle and a good set of clothes when he reached twenty-one at the end of his servitude. This kind of arrangement was typically made when a parent could not support a child.

Courtesy of Nodaway County Clerk.

Prior to federal assistance for the indigent, the responsibility fell to families, churches and counties. The poor were cared for by counties in two ways: outdoor relief that placed them in private homes and paid for their care, or indoor relief that cared for them in county facilities. These were called "poor farms" because they were working farms that were at least partially self-sufficient. Pictured here is the plan of the first floor of the Grundy County Poor Farm.

Source: RG739 Grundy County, G-1-6, p.2.

Dueling was long perceived as a gentleman's way of settling serious disputes. The two belligerents would pace off, then turn and shoot. Bloody Island in the Mississippi River across from St. Louis got its name because it was a legal no-man's land where people went on occasion to duel. Similar islands were used in other major rivers. In this 1831 letter, E.P. Nash challenges Gilpin S. Tuttle to a duel through language cloaking the confrontation as a hunting trip.

Source: RG709 Boone County Circuit Court, case file no. 22060.

Dueling was long perceived as a gentleman's way of settling serious disputes. The two belligerents would pace off, then turn and shoot. Bloody Island in the Mississippi River across from St. Louis got its name because it was a legal no-man's land where people went on occasion to duel. Similar islands were used in other major rivers. In this 1831 letter, E.P. Nash challenges Gilpin S. Tuttle to a duel through language cloaking the confrontation as a hunting trip.

Source: RG709 Boone County Circuit Court, case file no. 22060.

Dueling was long perceived as a gentleman's way of settling serious disputes. The two belligerents would pace off, then turn and shoot. Bloody Island in the Mississippi River across from St. Louis got its name because it was a legal no-man's land where people went on occasion to duel. Similar islands were used in other major rivers. In this 1831 letter, E.P. Nash challenges Gilpin S. Tuttle to a duel through language cloaking the confrontation as a hunting trip.

Source: RG709 Boone County Circuit Court, case file no. 22060.

German immigration to Missouri in the 1830s was triggered by the writings of Gottfried Duden, a German who wrote glowingly of Missouri. Immigration continued well into the twentieth century. This map shows the pattern of German and other settlements in Missouri.

Source: "Settlement Patterns in Missouri" by Russel L. Gerlach.

Workers with the B&O Railroad in West Virginia went on strike in July of 1877 demanding better wages. Soon, their fervor spread to other states, including Missouri where St. Louis transportation workers joined the strike. State militia and federal troops were called out to quell the protests, and in Missouri at least eighteen people were killed. The general strike was put down with military force after 45 days. This 1877 strike was a beginning to the labor movement in the United States that ultimately resulted in the formation of unions. The map shown here illustrates the railroad lines and streets in St. Louis in 1888.

Courtesy of St. Louis Public Library, Rand, McNally & Co.'s New Map of St. Louis, 1888.

Missouri formed its Bureau of Labor Statistics on May 19, 1879, the seventh state in the country to do so. The purpose of the Bureau was to collect statistics regarding labor in Missouri: wages, hours worked, accidents on the job, ages and gender of laborers, etc. At the end of each year, the Bureau submitted a report to the Governor. Pictured here is the cover page to the first annual report.

Source: RG108 Department of Labor and Industrial Relations collection. View the Red Books online.

The NAACP renewed their efforts to make lynching a federal crime after the brutal mob murder of African American man Cleo Wright in Sikeston, MO in 1942. Wright had been arrested as a suspect in the attempted murder of Grace Sturgeon, a white woman. Pictured here are three St. Louisians with the NAACP protesting the murder and advocating for Black citizens' rights. L to R: Leonard Harris, Nathaniel A. Sweet, Harry R. Bracy.

Courtesy of Library of Congress Visual Materials from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Records, copyright unknown.

Missouri's first state fair was held in Sedalia, Pettis County in 1901. The Fair's mission is to "promote excellence in Missouri agriculture, cultivate and support future leaders in agriculture, and provide opportunities for the agricultural community to deepen consumers’ understanding and appreciation of agriculture’s role in their daily lives and the economy of our state." Pictured here is a 1910s produce exhibit from Pettis County.

Source: RG102 Department of Agriculture State Fair Photograph Collection, #14-01447.

The 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis commemorated the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Kansas City's landscape architect George Kessler designed the enormous site that would be filled with buildings, exhibits, people, and animals from all around the world. Open for seven months, it is estimated to have drawn nineteen million attendees, including President Theodore Roosevelt. Pictured here is the Missouri Corn Palace on display in the Palace of Agriculture. For a sense of scale, the towers on the corners are 38 feet tall.

Source: RG998 MS193, scan from "The Forest City," p. 249

Hometown bands, such as this one in El Dorado Springs in 1910, provided entertainment at community events. Gazebos or bandstands on town squares often accommodated their concerts.

Courtesy of the El Dorado Springs Community Photo Collection, Missouri State University, Special Collections and Archives; El Dorado Springs Chamber of Commerce; Preserve Our Past Society; and the City of El Dorado Springs.

May Day (the first day of May) festivals often involve children winding ribbons around a Maypole. When completed, the poles are braided all the way down with colorful strips. Pictured here is a Mayday Festival at Southwest Missouri State Teachers College (now Missouri State University) in the 1920s.

Courtesy of Missouri State University Special Collections and Archives, Domino Danzero Photo Collection, #04_25_001. View this photograph collection online.

From apples and pumpkins to mules to jazz to motorcycles, Missouri towns love their festivals. The Red Barn Arts & Crafts Festival began in 1974 in Kirksville to celebrate Missouri's arts and crafts tradition.

Source: RG104 Department of Economic Development, Division of Tourism Photograph Collection

The ERA was first introduced in Congress in 1921, the year after women were granted the right to vote. This proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution was intended to give women equal rights to men. The amendment failed in the 1920s, but was reintroduced and approved by Congress in 1972. Next, the ERA required approval of two-thirds of the states. It never achieved that goal. In Missouri, State Senator and later Lt. Governor Harriett Woods was a strong advocate for the ERA.

Source: RG005 Secretary of State Publications Portrait Collection, B. 81 F. 7451_04.

The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (JNEM) was formed in 1933 with the intent of improving the St. Louis waterfront, preserving historic sites, and potentially building a new monument. The now-familiar steel arch was completed in 1968. It, and the surrounding area that includes the Old Courthouse, have been designated a National Historic Landmark. The arch commemorates the Louisiana Purchase and is a symbolic "Gateway to the West." It is pictured here under construction on July 8, 1965. On February 22, 2018, the JNEM was re-named Gateway Arch National Park.

Source: RG107 Missouri Department of Transportation Photograph Collection, #2606-4.

The Black Lives Matter movement began on social media in 2013 but gained national attention in 2014 after the deaths of two unarmed African-American men during fatal encounters with white police officers. One of these victims was eighteen-year-old Michael Brown of Ferguson. Demonstrations and riots that received national press coverage followed his death. Ultimately, a grand jury did not indict the officer who shot and killed Brown. The Department of Justice concluded that the officer had not violated federal hate crime laws, but that both the Ferguson Police Department and Municipal Court had long engaged in actions that unfairly and detrimentally affected African-Americans.

Courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice. Read the full report online.

St. Louis is home to the largest Bosnian population outside of Europe. An estimated 70,000 Bosnians live in the city, many of whom are refugees from the Yugoslav Wars. This Bosnian language guide to Missouri government was published by the Secretary of State's Office between 2001 and 2005.

Source: RG000.005 Secretary of State State Documents, Administration, B. 6 F. 8.

St. Louis is home to the largest Bosnian population outside of Europe. An estimated 70,000 Bosnians live in the city, many of whom are refugees from the Yugoslav Wars. This Bosnian language guide to Missouri government was published by the Secretary of State's Office between 2001 and 2005.

Source: RG000.005 Secretary of State State Documents, Administration, B. 6 F. 8.