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Between the couple on Portland Place pointing guns at protestors on a “private street” & @LydaKrewson endangering protestors via livestream, my childhood in #STL is on my mind.
I woke up thinking about the “strictly private” place my SAT tutor lived. (Thread/history lesson lol)
I woke up thinking about the “strictly private” place my SAT tutor lived. (Thread/history lesson lol)
This was 11th grade-2001 or so. My mom, being the educator and all around very determined Black mom she is, did a ton of digging to find the best SAT tutor $ could pay for. It was an elderly white woman who did private tutoring for a hefty fee.
My mom made a great, great living-but she was also a widow. We hadn’t been a two-income household in some years. Still, she worked very hard to give us creature comforts and there was no cost too high for our education.
To be fair, she was a great tutor
my score went up
To be fair, she was a great tutor
my score went up
I would drive myself to sessions with her after school and practice, around the corner from the private school I attended. Yes, I was a speck of pepper in a sea of salt. Yes, scholarships helped. Yes-that is the school where ya boy spit at me. He lived around the corner, too.
For those who don’t know St. Louis, the locally famous “where did you go to high school?” question is not based in mere friendly curiosity. It is based in bias and most often asked in an attempt to determine your type, social worth and assumed socio-economic status. It’s trash.
Now, most of my schoolmates drove nice cars. It was 2001. Four runners and jeeps and foreign SUVs and late model BMWs were poppin.
I, however, drove a 1989 2-door Toyota Tercel my mom got a good cash deal on. Hey-it ran and a FULL tank only cost me $8! At least I had a car
I, however, drove a 1989 2-door Toyota Tercel my mom got a good cash deal on. Hey-it ran and a FULL tank only cost me $8! At least I had a car
So I’d put-put into the school lot every morning-with a car full of Black kids I also drove to school because like me, they lived on the other side of town. In the suburbs, yes-but the Black suburbs. North County. Florissant, near Ferguson. This’ll matter later.
On tutoring nights, their parents would scoop them & I’d put-put to my tutors house a few mins away-a perpetually darker night as the seasons changed.
It was a short drive but it irked me. Her enclave was full of windy roads and houses set back far from the street- w NO lights
It was a short drive but it irked me. Her enclave was full of windy roads and houses set back far from the street- w NO lights
I mean, none.
It would be daaaark dark in there.
And when you pulled into her neighborhood off the main road, you’d pass a sign that said “strictly private.”
There was no gate or any security-just that sign.
Not just private-“strictly” private.
It would be daaaark dark in there.
And when you pulled into her neighborhood off the main road, you’d pass a sign that said “strictly private.”
There was no gate or any security-just that sign.
Not just private-“strictly” private.
So I hated driving back there because if I didn’t know *exactly* where I was going, I’d get lost.
And if my black self, in that raggedy car, got lost in that enclave? Let’s just say I was old enough to know why my mom gave me the “go straight there & come straight home” talk.
And if my black self, in that raggedy car, got lost in that enclave? Let’s just say I was old enough to know why my mom gave me the “go straight there & come straight home” talk.
The history of St. Louis mirrors the history of a lot of midwestern cities-especially the ones founded* in former slave states.
*Founded is a loose term since Laclede and Cheauteu didn’t found anything. Indigenous people lived & founded it first. https://patch.com/missouri/stlouis/indigenous-peoples-who-once-lived-st-louis-map
*Founded is a loose term since Laclede and Cheauteu didn’t found anything. Indigenous people lived & founded it first. https://patch.com/missouri/stlouis/indigenous-peoples-who-once-lived-st-louis-map
St. Louis’ racism is deeply seated in housing discrimination.
Shelley vs. Kraemer, the landmark 1948 SCOTUS decision that ended restrictive housing covenants?
Well the Shelleys were a Black family who bought a house in-you guessed it-St. Louis.
https://www.stlpublicradio.org/projects/black-white/shelley-kraemer.php
Shelley vs. Kraemer, the landmark 1948 SCOTUS decision that ended restrictive housing covenants?
Well the Shelleys were a Black family who bought a house in-you guessed it-St. Louis.
https://www.stlpublicradio.org/projects/black-white/shelley-kraemer.php
They bought their house a few blocks away from Lewis Place, a notorious trendsetter in the world of urban restrictive housing covenenants. In the 1940’s, the gate in front of Lewis Place was essentially a color line Black folks knew not to cross.
http://missourilawyershelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Opening-the-Gate.pdf
http://missourilawyershelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Opening-the-Gate.pdf
And Portland Place-the “private” neighborhood where the McCloskey’s pointed guns at #STL protestors?
A few blocks away.
Spots like Portland south of Delmar-St. Louis’ current racial dividing line-are full of “private” streets & grandiose homes. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/portland-place-where-couple-pointed-guns-at-protesters-has-long-been-home-to-wealthy-st/article_1764a072-9403-5b1a-a452-ba5609608d56.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=ea9b53b73c4802d40618f1237c5f8725de1df9d4
A few blocks away.
Spots like Portland south of Delmar-St. Louis’ current racial dividing line-are full of “private” streets & grandiose homes. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/portland-place-where-couple-pointed-guns-at-protesters-has-long-been-home-to-wealthy-st/article_1764a072-9403-5b1a-a452-ba5609608d56.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=ea9b53b73c4802d40618f1237c5f8725de1df9d4
Unsurprisingly, Lewis & Portland place were laid out around the same time.
By the 40’s, Lewis Place was explicit in restrictive covenants.
But at the end of the civil war, private streets in St. Louis suddenly became popular. Wonder why?
From: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/portland-place-where-couple-pointed-guns-at-protesters-has-long-been-home-to-wealthy-st/article_1764a072-9403-5b1a-a452-ba5609608d56.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=ea9b53b73c4802d40618f1237c5f8725de1df9d4
By the 40’s, Lewis Place was explicit in restrictive covenants.
But at the end of the civil war, private streets in St. Louis suddenly became popular. Wonder why?
From: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/portland-place-where-couple-pointed-guns-at-protesters-has-long-been-home-to-wealthy-st/article_1764a072-9403-5b1a-a452-ba5609608d56.html#utm_source=stltoday.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Fbreaking&utm_medium=PostUp&utm_content=ea9b53b73c4802d40618f1237c5f8725de1df9d4
Y’all these neighborhoods might as well have had signs that said “stay out n******.” But you know, gotta make the racism more polite after slavery ended-for a time
Portland Place, where the gun-totin duo live-was formed in 1888.
It remains private & protected in every sense.
Portland Place, where the gun-totin duo live-was formed in 1888.
It remains private & protected in every sense.
You read that right: a street created to keep Black folks and poor folks out is in the National Register of Historic Places.
We talk about confederate monuments-but these places are their own monuments, and they’re better protected, too.
We talk about confederate monuments-but these places are their own monuments, and they’re better protected, too.
By the way-my tutor? She was based in Ladue-one of the “private” places established at the turn of the century outside of the city.
White folks needed more land they kept us off of, ya dig?
It’s all connected. Every single bit of it.
White folks needed more land they kept us off of, ya dig?
It’s all connected. Every single bit of it.
And there were no streetlights for the same reason there was a local ordinance to forbid flood lights on football fields-because night games bring Black folks from opposing schools.
And we’re not supposed to be over there at night. Only folks who belong-and know their way around
And we’re not supposed to be over there at night. Only folks who belong-and know their way around
Which brings me to sundown towns.
I studied these when I was a Hill intern for @lacyclay and it ALL clicked.
Sundown towns were literally towns where the Black population had been driven out & thereafter, Black folks couldn’t be in after dark-or they might be murdered.
I studied these when I was a Hill intern for @lacyclay and it ALL clicked.
Sundown towns were literally towns where the Black population had been driven out & thereafter, Black folks couldn’t be in after dark-or they might be murdered.
Guess what was probably a Sundown Town?
#Ferguson. Yep. http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columnists/bernie_hayes/was-ferguson-a-sundown-town/article_dd4edb92-b23b-11e4-899d-eb6c3ff0ec28.html
#Ferguson. Yep. http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columnists/bernie_hayes/was-ferguson-a-sundown-town/article_dd4edb92-b23b-11e4-899d-eb6c3ff0ec28.html
All the Black folks in neighboring Kinloch-hometown of Queens @RepMaxineWaters & Jenifer Lewis- were blocked by literal road chains from entering #Ferguson.
Kinloch was MO’s first all-Black town and full of successful Black folks-til it was destroyed by “business.”
Basically a dressed up version of what happened to Black Wall Street & the story of so many Black towns.
@iam_alanamarie is making this film: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thekinlochdoc/the-kinloch-doc
Basically a dressed up version of what happened to Black Wall Street & the story of so many Black towns.
@iam_alanamarie is making this film: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thekinlochdoc/the-kinloch-doc
All this to say, OF COURSE Portland Place would be home to folks like the McGunsters or whatever.
Because they’re not “crazy.” They are the living embodiment of what Portland Place and all of #STL’s historic “private” streets were made for.
To protect white “home”lands.
Because they’re not “crazy.” They are the living embodiment of what Portland Place and all of #STL’s historic “private” streets were made for.
To protect white “home”lands.
A former white classmate called them “crazy.”
But he still lived a few doors down.
“Private” streets are monuments to racism, too.
But he still lived a few doors down.
“Private” streets are monuments to racism, too.
Alright y’all.
“Off” to work, which means downstairs
. Y’all have a productive and joyful day 
“Off” to work, which means downstairs
. Y’all have a productive and joyful day
