Lewis County, Missouri 1850: Slave Uprising
Late one night, members of the McCutchan Family awoke to the sound of passing wagons and oxen. John McCutchan went to his window and saw the wagons parking in a field next to his house. Shortly afterward, he heard the hushed voices of his slaves in their nearby room. Suspecting trouble, John woke his family,
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Mother Baltimore, 1801-1882
Around 1829, 11 families lead by Mother Baltimore left St. Louis, crossed the Mississippi River, and squatted a patch of land. Some of the families had bought their freedom, others were runaways. They called their settlement Freedom Village. The area they lived, the American Bottoms, was rich with fertile soil, trees, wildlife and fish, and
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St. Louis, 2006: White Supremacist Picnic Disrupted
In the early fall of 2006, the location of the Council of Conservative Citizens’ annual secret picnic was leaked. Local antifa had been trying to disband the CofCC for the past few years: harassing them at their own demonstrations and publishing counter-information about them. As far anyone can tell, after this brawl the CofCC never
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St. Louis 1962: Riots After Police Kill Teenager
In 1962 after a police officer shot Donnel Dortch, a black teenager, Kinloch erupted into at least four days of protests, riots and arsons. The response of the police, city officials, the governor and media are quite similar to their Ferguson descendants 50 years later. Kinloch, Berkley and Ferguson (three touching municipalities in north St.
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St. Louis 2007: Anti-Cop Climate During Kevin Johnson Trials
Kevin Johnson killed Sgt. William McEntee in the summer of 2005. McEntee had been involved in the death of Kevin’s 12-year-old brother earlier in the day. The following is taken from a pamphlet written in Kevin’s defense put out between his first and second trials. Though hindsight would prove some of the essay’s assertion quite
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John Anderson: Fugitive Slave and Killer of Slave Owner
From a forthcoming history of Missouri slavery and resistance: John had lived his whole life in Missouri, having been born into slavery in Fayette. He never knew his father who had escaped to South America when he was a baby. When John was seven, his mother was sold south after insulting their master, Moses Burton.
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Columbia 2007: NSM March Disrupted
In 2007, the National Socialist Movement announced it would be marching in Columbia, Missouri. The city government, clergy, community leaders, media and NGOs began a campaign of encouraging the town to just ignore them. While many who showed up the NSM march did so for the spectacle of it, other showed up to physically stop
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