the State Historical Society of Missouri
![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…
![Prison photographs of Cleo Wright. [Courtesy of Missouri State Archives]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-01/1.%20Cleo%20Wright.jpg?h=280643a4&itok=7G0GP4Sk "Prison photographs of Cleo Wright. [Courtesy of Missouri State Archives]")
Born in Jefferson County, Arkansas, on June 16, 1916, Ricelor Cleodas Watson was the son of…
![Josephine Silone Yates. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-50313]](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header_image/public/2023-01/1.%20Josephine%20Silone%20Yates.jpg?h=a1d10b62&itok=TxEIQ_Ft "Josephine Silone Yates. [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-50313]")
Josephine Silone was born in Mattituck, New York, in 1859, the youngest daughter of…