St. Louis was a brutal haven for slavers after the Civil War. It is ironic that this “don’t ask don’t” tell aspect of the city’s history now threatens its efforts to reignite growth and commerce. Its failure to confront this past just as its pro-slavery, pro-segregationist decisions did following the Civil War have returned to haunt it. Progressives and their money moved north and east to Chicago and New York to create more tolerant, progressive and vibrant cities . In this, the city’s 250th anniversary, its failure to confront its documented, deliberate, segregationist past and today’s reality has arisen to haunt it. @Part I: The African-American Experience
