In 2025, the “Listen, St. Louis with Carol Daniel" podcast and the Missouri Historical Society launched a new digital series called “Black History is St. Louis History.” Senior Producer and Host Carol Daniel and Cicely Hunter, Public Historian at the Missouri Historical Society, sit down to discuss people, neighborhoods, businesses, and more who helped shape the landscape of St. Louis.
Daniel shares how this series came to be:
One day, the thought crossed my mind, ‘Could I partner with the Missouri Historical Society to record a series of vignettes about the known and little-known history of the enslaved and formerly enslaved in St. Louis?” I emailed all the contacts I had. Can I tell you how nervous I was to ask this venerable institution to share its research with me? They would do all the heavy lifting. I would simply sit in my seat in the studio and say, “Welcome, Cicely Hunter, Public Historian with the African American History Initiative with the Missouri Historical Society. Cecily, tell me about Elizabeth Keckley, the enslaved woman in St. Louis who eventually became the dressmaker and confidante for Mary Todd Lincoln?”
But of course, Nine PBS is also a venerable institution, and I already had a connection with several staff, including with Missouri Historical Society President and CEO Jody Sowell, who took part in our 314 Day celebration last year. Imagine my relief when they readily agreed to the partnership! Next, we had to decide the recording schedule, which historic photos would be used for the interviews for our YouTube channel and the order of air dates. Once the details were determined, we kicked production into high gear. The resulting series is called “Black History is St. Louis History.”
Historian and descendant of two U.S. presidents, Henry Brooks Adams, once said, “History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul.” Anti-apartheid activist, theologian, and South African Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu once said, “My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.”
I hope the series is illuminating and you are as amazed as I am by the resilience of these remarkable people. I hope you develop a renewed sense of pride in how we have all overcome the difficulties and outdated thinking that plagued us. And I hope above all, that the series honors the humanity of those who struggled for freedom.
Contributed by: Carol Daniel, Leah Gullet and Molly Hart