Source: Western Historical Manuscripts Collection
On February 3, 1952, Josephine
Baker performed a benefit concert at Kiel Auditorium to draw attention
to the plight of African-American children forced to attend separate schools
that were inferior in quality to those attended by white students. The concert
was sponsored by a group of parents who had formed the Citizens Protest Committee
On Overcrowding in Negro Public Schools the previous year. The concert also
had the support of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization that was concerned
with the problem of unequal educational facilities in many cities around the
country. During the early 1950s, the NAACP challenged the legal status of
segregated public education systems in a series of court cases. Meanwhile,
other civil rights organizations in St. Louis concentrated their efforts on
desegregating downtown retail establishments. Members of the Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE) held frequent demonstrations in front of downtown department
stores like Stix, Baer, and Fuller which refused to serve black customers
in its dining room.
"Hello St. Looie..." And a crescendo of applause welcomed the intimate greeting spoken in warm syrupy tones. The words came from a figure of world renown, a native St. Louisan making her first public appearance in the Mound City since 1925. They came from Josephine Baker, entertainer extraordinary.
Source: Mercantile Library Collections
"My being here in St. Louis brings me back thirty-five years. I never dreamed that I would return to St. Louis as an entertainer. A year ago when I decided to come to North America, I had it put in my contract that I would not appear in any city where my people could not come to see me, and at each time that there has been an approach to my coming to St. Louis I have always refused."
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African American children to go school |
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Civil rights groups challenge segregated education in the courts |
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Civil rights activists demonstrate in front of Stix, Baer, and Fuller department store |