the State Historical Society of Missouri
![An early twentieth-century postcard of Stewart Bridge, where a mob killed James T. Scott in the early hours of April 29, 1923. [State Historical Society of Missouri, John W. Coffman Collection of University of Missouri Postcards (P305), 010783-1]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-12/1.%20James%20Scott%20Lynching.jpg?h=40f6148b&itok=WEKUFYY0 "An early twentieth-century postcard of Stewart Bridge, where a mob killed James T. Scott in the early hours of April 29, 1923. [State Historical Society of Missouri, John W. Coffman Collection of University of Missouri Postcards (P305), 010783-1]")
James T. Scott (1885?–1923) was the victim of one of the most…
An unheralded Afro-Indian enslaved woman’s dreams of freedom propelled one of the most…
![Mathias Splitlog (Dyut-Ru-Tu-Re), Washington, DC, 1896. [Smithsonian Institution, NAA.PhotoLot.176, Item BAE GN 00976A, photo by William Dinwiddie]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2026-04/1.%20Mathias%20Splitlog.jpg?h=ab7009da&itok=bgQTiSF4 "Mathias Splitlog (Dyut-Ru-Tu-Re), Washington, DC, 1896. [Smithsonian Institution, NAA.PhotoLot.176, Item BAE GN 00976A, photo by William Dinwiddie]")
The life of Mathias Splitlog is a classic story of a man who went from rags to riches. The son of a French…
![Charlton H. Tandy. [State Historical Society of Missouri, St. Louis Research Center, Black History Photograph Collection (S0336)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-06/1.%20Charlton%20H.%20Tandy.jpg?h=cd64e863&itok=pQh0LDTO "Charlton H. Tandy. [State Historical Society of Missouri, St. Louis Research Center, Black History Photograph Collection (S0336)]")
Charlton H. Tandy, an outspoken leader of the nineteenth-century Black civil rights…
![Father Augustus Tolton. [Image in public domain]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-11/1.-augustus-tolton.jpg?h=b5104c6a&itok=1ONYRtk_ "Father Augustus Tolton. [Image in public domain]")
Father Augustus Tolton, recognized as the first openly African American priest in the United States…
![James Milton Turner, circa 1870. [Lincoln University]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2021-03/1-James-Milton-Turner.jpg?h=d64323c3&itok=nkqu6MYa "James Milton Turner, circa 1870. [Lincoln University]")
Although numerous secondary accounts of James Milton Turner’s life list his birth date as…
![Marianne Billeron Vallé’s signature on a baptismal record in 1768. She signed as the godmother to Marie-Louise, the daughter of an enslaved Native American woman. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Ste. Genevieve Parish Records, C3040]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-12/marianne-signature.jpg?h=a2d61f04&itok=bibb_dHf "Marianne Billeron Vallé’s signature on a baptismal record in 1768. She signed as the godmother to Marie-Louise, the daughter of an enslaved Native American woman. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Ste. Genevieve Parish Records, C3040]")
Marianne Billeron Vallé was born in Kaskaskia around 1729, the daughter of…
![Osage Chief with Two Warriors, oil painting on card by George Catlin. [National Gallery of Art, Paul Mellon Collection, 1965.16.68]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2024-06/1.-white-hair-paw-hiu-skah.jpg?itok=1uI0lp8Y "Osage Chief with Two Warriors, oil painting on card by George Catlin. [National Gallery of Art, Paul Mellon Collection, 1965.16.68]")
![Roy Wilkins in 1963. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsc-01273]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-11/1.%20Roy%20Wilkins.jpg?h=0bae65ef&itok=7q4A-9Ux "Roy Wilkins in 1963. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsc-01273]")
Roy O. Wilkins was born on August 30, 1901, in St. Louis. Five years earlier, the US…
![Arsania Williams. [State Historical Society of Missouri St. Louis Research Center, University of Missouri Saint Louis Black History Project Photograph Collection (S0201)]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2022-12/1.%20Arsania%20Williams.jpg?h=3ecb33db&itok=mYANYVHL "Arsania Williams. [State Historical Society of Missouri St. Louis Research Center, University of Missouri Saint Louis Black History Project Photograph Collection (S0201)]")
Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, around 1875—sources differ on the year of her birth—Arsania…