Items

Explore individual items gathered for collections and exhibits centered around particular themes, people, places, or events.

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  Homer G. Phillips

  Homer G. Phillips was an influential lawyer and civil rights activist from Sedalia, Missouri. He attended Howard University Law School in Washington, DC, and later established a successful law practice in St. Louis. In 1919, Phillips co-founded the Civil Liberties League, an African American political organization representing Black interests in the Progressive wing of the Republican party. In the early 1920s, he co-founded the St. Louis Negro Bar Association, later known as the Mound City Bar Association. He defended many African Americans in criminal cases following the 1917 race riots in East St. Louis, and in 1922, Phillips led the demand for a hospital for the Black community. His efforts led to the construction of Homer G. Phillips Hospital and School for Nursing, which opened several years after his death. The hospital served Black residents and trained Black medical professionals until the early 1980s. When the City of St. Louis enacted a segregation ordinance in 1916, Phillips and the local branch of the NAACP filed for a temporary injunction on the ordinance. US District Judge David Dyer granted the injunction until Buchanan v. Warley could be the US Supreme Court. The Buchanan v. Warley decision set the precedent that ordinances that prohibited the sale or purchase of properties by Blacks in white-majority neighborhoods violated Fourteenth Amendment protections. Phillips was attacked and killed by several men with guns while waiting for a streetcar on June 18, 1931. The motive behind his assassination remains unknown.
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  Homer G. Phillips Hospital and School of Nursing

  Homer G. Phillips Hospital and School of Nursing was a historic institution in St. Louis that served the African American community from 1937 to 1979. It was a fully equipped hospital and training facility for Black doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals during a time when opportunities for African Americans in these fields were limited. The hospital, named after the lawyer who championed its creation, was a vital part of the Ville neighborhood and a source of pride for the Black community. Restored sections of the former hospital now serves as a neighborhood health care center and a residential care facility for older adults.
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  Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri

  High School was established in 1875 after extensive lobbying by some of St. Louis' African American residents. Sumner High School is a public high school in St. Louis. Sumner High School was the first high school for African American students west of the Mississippi River in the United States. Part of a segregated school system, Vashon High School and Sumner High School were the only two public high schools in St. Louis City for African American students. Sumner High School moved to its current location in 1908. It has historically been known as Charles H. Sumner High School and Sumner Stone High School.
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  Track Team Sumner High School 1930 -1939

  Image of Sumner High School Track Team.
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  Thank You Letter for Alumni Gift and Cloth Pendant.

  1. Thank you letter for alumni gift. August 20, 1974. Letter form Samuel Miller, Principal Sumner High School, St Louis MO. Sent to John D. Buckner. 2. Fabric Pendant for Sumner High School.
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  Segregation Poster St Louis

  Image of protesters. "We Protest School Segregation"
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  Sumner High School National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form 1987
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  Hazel McDaniel

  Photo of first African American woman to enter a PhD program from University of Missouri, studied speech and dramatics. Founder of the Delta Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. She taught at Sumner High School.
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  Grace Bumbry

  Photo of acclaimed opera singer who attended Sumner Highschool & traveled to Europe
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  Weighing Tin Foil, S.W. Div., St. Louis, Mo., Wyman School

  Group title: Jr Red Cross, Salvage. Used in: Magazine Bureau. 5/24/1919.
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  Art Piece "Saint Lumination Celebration of St. Louis" Displayed at First Night Festival

  Art piece "Saint Lumination Celebration of St. Louis" displayed at First Night Festival. This art piece was created by 40 elementary school children, grades 3rd through 6th, to be displayed during the First Night celebration on December 31, 2014 at Grand Center. The piece was completed by students from Oak Hill, Woodward, Froebel, and Danforth Elementary Schools, four different predominantly African-American elementary schools in the St. Louis area. The students worked under the direction of Gundia Lock-Clay, a local artist and the art director for Neighborhood Houses, an organization that provides after-school programs in the St. Louis public school system.
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  Sharp's Language Drills and Test: Fifth Grade

  A paperbound fifth grade workbook. Cover has a thin, stylized border with foliage about one half inch from the edges. Within the border is the workbook title and student information. Pre-printed text reads: [SHARP'S / LANGUAGE DRILLS / and TESTS / FIFTH GRADE]. The student information is found within a small rectangle just below center. Pre-printed fields are titled: [Name / School / Grade / Term / Date]. Handwritten in the blanks for the student information is text written in pencil by the student Emery Crawford: [Emery Crawford / Covert Conssoldated (sic) / Five / 1929, 1930 / Nov 27, 1929]. The publishing company is along the bottom within the border: [WEBSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY / ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI]. Below the border in the lower left corner is the copyright: [COPYRIGHT 1926 BY WEBSTER PUB. CO.] The workbook is filled in with completed exercises.
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  Graduation program for the Homer G. Phillips Hospital School of Nursing

  A graduation program for the Homer G. Phillips Hospital School of Nursing. The event was held on Friday, September 5, 1947 at Stowe Teachers College in Saint Louis, Missouri. The program is a single sheet of paper that was previously folded in half on a vertical crease. The program is made of white paper with black text. The front page reads: [HOMER G. PHILLIPS HOSPITAL / School of Nursing / GRADUATION EXERCISES / Friday, September 5, 1947 / 8 P. M. / STOWE TEACHERS COLLEGE / 2615 NORTH PENDLETON AVENUE / SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI]. There is a stylized line forming a border across the top and bottom of the page. A graphic of a knot is located above and below the date and time. There is a printing logo centered at the bottom next to the number [162]. The program is listed on the left inside page. The seventeen (17) graduating students are listed on the right page. Ushers are listed on the back page.
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  Annie Malone Children's Home May Day Parade

  A homemade float in the Annie Malone Children's Home May Day Parade
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  Sumner High School Celebration

  A crowd of Sumner High School alumni celebrating the Sumner Centennial Celebration
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  Sumner High School Class of 1909 Reunion

  Six unidentified women sitting at a table during the Sumner High School Class of 1909 reunion.
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  Sumner High School Reunion

  John Buckner, John Bass, Dick Gregor at Sumner Centennial Celebration, Sumner High School.
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  Protest Against Overcrowding in Black Schools, 1951

  Attorney David M. Grant holding a coffin. A protest against overcrowding in St. Louis' segregated Black schools. The protest occurred in November 1951 at the Board of Education after 10-year-old David Brooks was shot to death at Wheatley School.
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  Homer G. Phillips Hospital Emergency Room

  Homer G. Phillips Hospital Emergency Room. Dr. R. C. Haskell on left with glasses. Haksell was the first manager of the City Hospital No. 2 before Homer G. Phillips opened.
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  Charles Bannister at Washington Technical School

  Charles Bannister at Washington Technical School, located on 19th Street in St. Louis. Booker T. Washington Vocational School was also known as ""The Franklin School"" and the first vocational public school for Black St. Louis students. Before becoming a professional photographer, Bannister had intentions to become a carpenter or cabinet maker.
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  Washington Vocational School: Power Laundering Class

  Horizontal, black and white photograph. One interior view of two young women operating a piece of machinery on fabrics, one table with stacks of fabrics on the top left, one blackboard on the top right.
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  Jefferson School: Play Yard

  Horizontal, black and white photograph. One exterior view of boys standing in groups and roughhousing each other in a courtyard surrounded by a wall, one wood paneling on the top left, one wood paneling on the right.
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  Public Schools Stadium Program: 'Colored' Playground Festival

  Horizontal, black and white photograph. One view of a group of people standing in and one marching band walking on a field in one stadium, bleachers on the top and the bottom left, the number "18192" on the bottom right.
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  Programs: Urban League - WPA Day Nursery ('Colored')

  Horizontal, black and white photograph. One interior view of a group of children lying down on sleeping cots on the floor of a classroom, one closed doorway visible on the top left.
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  Washington Vocational School: Cosmetology

  Horizontal, black and white photograph. One interior view of one young woman using a hairdresser tool on the hair of a girl in front of a row of windows set on a worktable, the number "10" on the top left, the young woman and girl sitting on the bottom right.