Mill Creek: Black Metropolis

Mill Creek: Black Metropolis explores the rich history of a St. Louis neighborhood that historians have likened to New York’s legendary Harlem. It was the home of St. Louis’s major Black newspapers, the offices of numerous Black professionals, a center of social activism, and the birthplace of ragtime. All this richness thrived amid and despite racial segregation, providing African Americans common ground and the refuge from the daily slights and indignities of a stark color divide in 20th-century St. Louis.

Part of the tragedy of Mill Creek Valley's erasure is that very little literature currently exists. We hope more locals with a connection to the area will share their stories in the future.