His name is still well known today because he was a man who tried to make a difference for the black citizens of the city of St, Louis as early as 1916.

Homer G. Phillips grew up in Sedalia, Mo., son of a Methodist minister who had been a slave. Phillips studied law at Howard University in Washington and moved here just before the World's Fair in 1904. He married Ida Perle Alexander, an actress, and established himself as a lawyer.

Phillips became prominent in civil rights and politics. He was a founder of the Citizens' Liberty League, advocating for blacks after city residents voted in 1916 to mandate segregation in housing. He was influential in the local Republican Party, a common affiliation for blacks before the New Deal, and made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1926. Republican mayors sought his advice.

Phillips also was a leader in getting a new hospital for blacks, who used the inadequate City Hospital No. 2, a former medical college in the Mill Creek Valley. The city set money aside from a 1923 bond issue for the new hospital.

Charleton Tandy was born in Kentucky in 1836 to parents who were free only because his grandparents had purchased the family’s freedom three years before his birth.  Throughout his childhood, Tandy’s family worked to free slaves through the Underground Railroad, and as a young man, Tandy often led slaves on the route from Covington, Kentucky, to freedom in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Tandy moved to St. Louis in 1857 and worked a series of jobs until the Civil War began. His first assignment in the Army was post messenger at Jefferson Barracks.  The war proved good for Tandy’s standing, as he rose from state militia volunteer to captain of “Tandy’s St. Louis Guard,” an African American state militia that he recruited; he carried the honorific title “Captain” for the rest of his life.

Do you know who Ben York is, and do you know who Sacajawea is?

The name York is very seldom heard when the Lewis and Clark expedition is reported on or simply talked about. As many of you know, there are many honors given in the name of Lewis and Clark such as the very roadway that pass along side of our very own Third Church.  There are many monuments to these men throughout the St. Louis metro area. However, the name York is not quite as famous when it comes to the expedition. That fact could be because York was the man servant or slave to Clark and to some his importance has been diminished.