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Early in Missouri's history, African Americans were enslaved in the state; [1] some of its black slaves purchased their own freedom. [2]
On January 11, 1865, slavery was abolished in the state. [3] The Fifteenth Amendment in the year 1870 had given African American black men the rights to vote. [4]
As of 2020, 699,840 blacks live in Missouri. [5]
Missouri is a double landlocked state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it borders Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the west. In the south are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center and into the Mississippi River, which makes up the eastern border. With over six million residents, it is the 18th-most populous state of the country. The largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. The capital is Jefferson City.
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held the U.S. Constitution did not extend American citizenship to people of black African descent, and therefore they could not enjoy the rights and privileges the Constitution conferred upon American citizens. The decision is widely considered the worst in the Supreme Court's history, being widely denounced for its overt racism, judicial activism, poor legal reasoning, and crucial role in the start of the American Civil War four years later. Legal scholar Bernard Schwartz said that it "stands first in any list of the worst Supreme Court decisions". A future chief justice, Charles Evans Hughes, called it the Court's "greatest self-inflicted wound".
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for the freedom of themselves and their two daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, popularly known as the "Dred Scott decision". The Scotts claimed that they should be granted freedom because Dred had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal, and laws in those jurisdictions said that slave holders gave up their rights to slaves if they stayed for an extended period.
Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Marion County, with a tiny sliver in the south extending into Ralls County.
Little Dixie is a historic 13- to 17-county region along the Missouri River in central Missouri, United States. Its early Anglo-American settlers were largely migrants from the hemp and tobacco districts of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. They brought enslaved African Americans with them or purchased them as workers in the region. Because Southerners settled there first, the pre-Civil War culture of the region was similar to that of the Upper South. The area was also known as Boonslick country.
The Supreme Court of Missouri is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitution to give the Supreme Court exclusive jurisdiction – the sole legal power to hear – over five types of cases on appeal. Pursuant to Article V, Section 3 of the Missouri Constitution, these cases involve:
Judith W. Baker is an American Democratic politician, small business owner, and educator from Missouri. She is a former member of the Missouri House of Representatives and a former Region VII Director for the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Baker was a candidate for Missouri State Treasurer in the 2016 election, but was defeated in the general election by Eric Schmitt.
Missouri's second congressional district is in the eastern portion of the state, primarily consisting of the suburbs south and west of St. Louis, including Arnold, Town and Country, Wildwood, Chesterfield, and Oakville. The district includes all of Franklin County and portions of St. Louis, St. Charles, and Warren counties. Following redistricting in 2010, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the district now included more Democratic-leaning voters than it had its 2001–2010 boundaries, but still leaned Republican as a whole. The latest U.S. Census Electorate Profile for the 2nd congressional district estimates there are 581,131 citizens of voting age living in 293,984 households. A primarily suburban district, MO-02 is the wealthiest of Missouri's congressional districts.
The history of slavery in Missouri began in 1720, predating statehood, with the large-scale slavery in the region, when French merchant Philippe François Renault brought about 500 slaves of African descent from Saint-Domingue up the Mississippi River to work in lead mines in what is now southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois. These were the first enslaved Africans brought in masses to the middle Mississippi River Valley. Prior to Renault's enterprise, slavery in Missouri under French colonial rule had a much smaller scale compared to elsewhere in the French colonies. Immediately prior to the American Civil War, there were about 100,000 enslaved people in Missouri, about half of whom lived in the 18 western counties near the Kansas border.
The Missouri Conservationist is a monthly periodical published by the Missouri Department of Conservation. It was first published in 1938 by the department's predecessor, the Missouri Conservation Commission. The magazine focuses on educating the general public on issues pertaining to the conservation and management of Missouri’s natural resources.
Freedom suits were lawsuits in the Thirteen Colonies and the United States filed by slaves against slaveholders to assert claims to freedom, often based on descent from a free maternal ancestor, or time held as a resident in a free state or territory.
Jason Thomas Smith is an American businessman and politician who has been the U.S. representative for Missouri's 8th congressional district since 2013. The district comprises 30 counties, covering just under 20,000 square miles of southeastern and southern Missouri.
The 2020 Missouri gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the Governor of Missouri, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Mike Parson ran for and was elected to a full term in office. Parson was elected as lieutenant governor in 2016 but became governor on June 1, 2018, after incumbent Eric Greitens resigned under threat of impeachment by the state legislature. Parson declared his bid for a full term on September 8, 2019. State Auditor Nicole Galloway, Missouri's only Democratic statewide officer and only female statewide officer, was the Democratic nominee and if elected, would have become Missouri's first female governor.
Adam Schnelting is a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He currently represents the 69th district, which primarily encompasses Harvester, Weldon Spring, and portions of St. Peters and St. Charles in St. Charles County, south of Highway 94. Schnelting was originally elected to serve the 104th district in the Missouri House of Representatives in November 2018.
There is an African-American community in Kansas, including in Kansas City, Kansas. Nicodemus, Kansas is the oldest surviving town west of the Mississippi River settled solely by African Americans.
The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Missouri were held on November 8, 2022, to elect the eight U.S. representatives from the state of Missouri, one from each of the state's congressional districts. The elections coincided with other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate, and various state and local elections.
Missouri state elections were held on November 8, 2022, and the primary election were held on August 2, 2022.
The Citizen's Liberty League was a political organization established in Missouri to advance the interests of African Americans in the Republican Party. It addressed the policies of segregation, exclusion, and discrimination in the state. It was established in 1919 in Pythian Hall.
The 2024 Missouri Attorney General election will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect the attorney general of the state of Missouri. It will coincide with the concurrent presidential election, as well as various state and local elections, including for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and governor of Missouri. Primary elections took place on August 6, 2024. Incumbent Andrew Bailey won the Republican nomination.
Following the creation of the United States in 1776 and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, the legal status of slavery was generally a matter for individual U.S. state legislatures and judiciaries As such, slavery flourished in some states, and withered on the vine in others. On the whole, the former Thirteen Colonies abolished slavery relatively slowly, if at all, with several Northern states using gradual emancipation systems in which freedom would be granted after so many years of life or service.
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