Missouri-Germans

The Germans that settled in Missouri would have a huge impact of the enslaved. I'm sharing the 19th Annual Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing. The 2021 virtual event highlights the stories of Black St. Louisans whose lives were intertwined with Missouri’s journey to statehood and the legalization of slavery in the state. We hope you will join us to learn about and connect to our community’s past, present and future! In 1818, Missouri wanted to join the Union as a Slave State. A c...ompromise was struck, and the horror of Slavery was once again expanded. There was no compromise for Slaves. Click the image below or visit www.MaryMeachum.org to watch this year's incredible program, complete with re-enactments, local teens learning about the Missouri Compromise and more! Hear from York, the famed Black explorer who accompanied Lewis & Clark as a guide, seen demanding his freedom from Clark after their expedition. And listen to free, Black, French/Creole folks living in Missouri ponder what will happen to them if Missouri becomes a slave state?! https://greatriversgreenway.org/mary-meachum/ Mary Meachum Celebration - Great Rivers Greenway GREATRIVERSGREENWAY.ORG Mary Meachum Celebration - Great Rivers Greenway The 2021 virtual event high See more

For families descended from the Giessen Emigration Society. Please share if this is your family!

In September of 1833, two former students of the University of Giessen, Paul Follenius and Friedrich Muench would issue a Call for Emigration to find fellow Germans wanting to establish a colony in Missouri. Thousands would apply to join the newly formed Giessen Emigration Society that would depart the next year. Those chosen came from all walks of life, all over Germany and were of many different faiths.... http://mo-germans.com/2021/05/18/reunion/

Runaway Slaves used the Underground Railroad to make their way to Freedom. Join Historian Dorris Keeven-Keeven as she shares the stories, routes, and heroes that assisted the fugitives.

German Abolitionists were part of this story! Join us for this story of the day Missouri's slaves became FREE! https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84577524624 Free Online event

Please join us for this program at 1:00 pm CDT on Monday, January 11, 2021 for this free online event. Missouri's Emancipation Day will share the history of the Constitutional Convention that ended slavery in Missouri on January 11, 1865. The speaker is historian Dorris Keeven-Franke, Executive Director of Missouri Germans Consortium.

May 2021 be a good year for all.

Stuttgart and St Louis Missouri will be part of this....

Missouri Day is an observance in the U.S. state of Missouri, currently held on the third Wednesday in October. Originally on the first Monday in October, it was... moved to the third Wednesday in 1969. Created by House Bill 122 in 1915, Missouri Day is set aside to "foster love for our state’s history and to teach rising generations of boys and girls the glories of Missouri. Coming up October 21 this year. See more

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation came into effect, freeing slaves in all Confederate-held territory. But Lincoln’s decree did not extend to Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland, all of which were slave states that had remained loyal to the Union. In 1864 some of the Missouri Germans backed an attempt to challenge Lincoln from the Left by nominating a Radical anti-slavery man for president. When Lincoln outflanked them by endorsing the ...13th Amendment ending slavery, the Germans returned to the Republican fold and put their energies into revising the Missouri constitution to abolish slavery in their state Legal freedom for all African Americans slaves in Missouri came by action of a state convention meeting in the Mercantile Library Hall in St. Louis. The convention convened on January 6, 1865 with German immigrant Judge Arnold Krekel serving as president. Radical Republicans, many of whom were also German-Americans, comprised two-thirds of the convention seats. A vote on the emancipation ordinance passed overwhelmingly 60 to 4 on January 11, 1865, with no compensation to slave owners. A month later the convention adopted the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery throughout the country. Eight of the sixty-six delegates to the Missouri Constitutional Convention were born in Germany. One of the immigrants, Arnold Krekel, was elected Convention President. While nearly all native-born Republicans believed that Missouri’s blacks should be freed, the status of blacks in freedom was contentious. Many thought that blacks, if they were free, should not be given the right to vote. Even among whites, women and young people under the age of 21 were not allowed to vote. One could be both a citizen and be deprived of the privilege of voting in 19th Century America. Germans immigrated to America because of the U.S. Constitution. They had faced oppression in Germany and many would face denigration here upon arrival. Missouri would be held for Union. Thousands would give their lives as German soldiers and USCT Regiment leaders. They were Abolitionists and friends on the Underground Railroad. They would fight to see the enslaved emancipated and slavery ended.

Join us for a virtual German American Day event!