We Live Here

What Happened to Missouri's First Black Town?

11.08.2019 - By St. Louis Public RadioPlay

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What happened to Missouri’s first all black town?

What does home mean to you? Is it a physical place? Or maybe a specific person.

Maybe it’s a feeling.

Now how would you feel if home was literally torn down under the promise that something big would come that could change the economy of an entire city? But then that thing never materialized. And what’s left of home is pavement, empty lots and warehouses. This is what happened to Alana Marie’s dad and thousands of other black residents in a small municipality in north St. Louis County called Kinloch. On this episode we tell the story of Kinloch’s rise and decline, and how Alana is working to preserve the history of Missouri first all black town.

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