Title

Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing - FLOATING FREEDOM SCHOOL

Description

Mary and John Meachum had a strong focus on education throughout their life. Soon after Mary was sold to someone in St. Louis and John moved there to be closer to her, John Meachum met John Mason Peck and started a Sunday School. The Meachums believed that both free and enslaved people needed for hands-on practical learning to take full advantage of their eventual freedom. However, the governor of Missouri passed a law that banned all education of both enslaved and free Black people. Still dedicated to the education of their community, John Meachum bought a steamboat, put a library, desks and chairs on it and called it the Floating Freedom School. As the Mississippi River was on Federal land, not State land, it was out of state law’s range. The Floating Freedom School managed to educate hundreds more students, including many prominent St. Louis African American leaders.

Creator

Delaney Schurer

Semester

Intro to Public History

Subject

Historic Marker Nominations

Mary and John Meachum

Education

Racism

Civil Rights

Black Schooling

The Floating Freedom School

African American Rights

Freedoms

John Mason Peck

Language

English

Publisher

UMSL Digital Humanities Lab

Date

2020