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Our Journey
Three chapters of courage on the Mississippi River
The Mississippi River was never just a boundary — it was a contested landscape where the struggle for freedom unfolded one courageous crossing at a time. These are the stories that give River Blues its name.
1847
The Floating Freedom School
A symbol of Black educational resistance — classes held aboard a steamboat anchored in the Mississippi, beyond the reach of Missouri’s ban on Black education.
Read the story →1879
The Colored Refugee Relief Board
One of the largest Black-led humanitarian relief efforts of the nineteenth century, organized in St. Louis for thousands of Exodusters fleeing the South.
Read the story →1855
The Underground Railroad
St. Louis and the Mississippi at the border of slavery and freedom — and the courage of Mary Meachum, honored today at the Freedom Crossing.
Read the story →