U.S. Supreme Court Argued Jan. 15, 16, 1948. Decided May 3, 1948. Mr. Chief Justice VINSON delivered the opinion of the Court. These cases present for our consideration questions relating to the validity of court enforcement of private agreements, generally described as restrictive covenants, which … Read More(1948) Shelley v. Kraemer
November 9, 1938, Argued December 12, 1938, Decided MR. CHIEF JUSTICE HUGHES delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioner Lloyd Gaines, a negro, was refused admission to the School of Law at the State University of Missouri. Asserting that this refusal constituted a denial by … Read More(1938) Missouri Ex Rel. Gaines v. Canada
Dred Scott v. Sandford, United States Supreme Court, 1857 (This text has been edited. The original decision is over 200 pages long) This is certainly a very serious question, and one that now for the first time has been brought for decision before this court. … Read More(1857) Dred Scott v. Sandford
Born in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1863, Joseph Blackburn Bass made his mark in the newspaper business in Kansas, Montana, and California. After teaching school during the 1890s, Bass took over ownership of the Topeka Call in 1896, where he had worked for two years … Read MoreJoseph Blackburn Bass (1863-1934)
Born on Aug. 6, 1865 in Chillicothe, Ohio to George R. and Mary Elizabeth (Gatliffe) Ryan, John Henry Ryan was one of twelve children. Ella (Alexander) Ryan’s origins are more unclear; however she was raised in Missouri as one of at least three children. John … Read MoreElla & John Ryan
If any man of any color attained the ranks of legendary in the American West, it was James Beckwourth (also: Beckwith, Beckwoth). If any attest to his fame is necessary, one only needs to read the description under the accompanying lithograph and note that even … Read MoreJames Pierson Beckwourth (c. 1805 – 1866)
Jacob Dodson accompanied John C. Fremont on three expeditions to explore the Western frontier. Dodson was a free born African American whose family worked in the service of Fremont’s father-in-law, Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton. In 1843, Dodson was 18 years old when he left … Read MoreJacob Dodson (1825-?)
Jacob Lawrence, born in 1917 in Atlantic City, N.J., moved to New York City at age thirteen. Gwendolyn Knight, born in 1913, in Barbados, West Indies, arrived in the U.S. at age seven, and spent her first years in St. Louis. She arrived in New … Read MoreJacob Lawrence & Gwendolyn Knight
In the late 1920s, Ophelia Settle Egypt conducted some of the first and finest interviews with former slaves, setting the stage for the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) massive project ten years later. Born Ophelia Settle in 1903, she was a graduate of the University of … Read MoreOphelia Settle Egypt (1903-1984)
Poet, novelist, playwright, librettist, essayist, and translator, James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 1, 1902, to parents Caroline (Carrie) Mercer Langston, a school teacher, and James Nathaniel Hughes, an attorney. His parents separated before Langston was born and he spent … Read MoreLangston Hughes (1902-1967)
