3: A Harsher Jim Crow Grows: Racial Politics and Containment, 1916

Events following Mrs. Curtis’s defeat in 1927 signaled a new era of political, educational, and health care changes in the St. Louis Black community. The unsuccessful election campaign for Mrs. Curtis, decidedly successful for its organizing efforts in garnering the required signed petitions for the election ballot and submission to the Board of Election Commissioners, proved the resourcefulness of Black women in the St. Louis community. As volunteers without pay or the promise of reward, these women with the assistance of a few men, presented hope for the future in a citywide elective endeavor for Black political representation, which represented an example of the pre-World War II civil rights movement in St. Louis. The St. Louis Argus recognized their efforts and achievement to the newspaper’s readership (Staff Writer, 1927).