Culturally rich and historically significant, the City of St. Louis has forged its identity through its people, from the early settlers to the suffragists at the turn of the 20th century to today’s activists who advocate for social justice.
The role of St. Louis women in spurring societal change through the decades had been largely overlooked and sometimes ignored. A new book, “Groundbreakers, Rule-breakers & Rebels,” intentionally puts them front and center by amplifying their voices and stories in hopes of providing an even richer historical canvas for the city.
“I wanted modern women to be able to see themselves in women of the past,” said author Katie Moon, exhibits manager at the Missouri Historical Society and content lead for the current Missouri History Museum exhibition, “Beyond the Ballot: St. Louis and Suffrage.”
Moon’s book, with illustrations by St. Louis artist Rori!, is published as a companion piece to the groundbreaking exhibit that showcases the role women played during the suffrage movement and beyond.
“We were committed to telling as many diverse stories as possible,” Moon said. “We wanted women who had a story, who struggled against a barrier of some sort – and some of them had every barrier you can imagine.”
The “Beyond the Ballot” exhibit, which runs through March 20, 2022, takes a closer look at the lives and accomplishments of 32 St. Louis women. The new book expands on those stories, as well as highlight many more of the women who’ve helped shape St. Louis into a great American city.
“All of these women were pro-active and had a resilience of spirit, the idea that they can handle what life throws at them and they’re going to make the world a better place in some way.” Moon explained. “There were more hurdles for them to pass, so they had to be persistent, creative and strategic.”
The book introduces readers to 50 “unstoppable” St. Louis women. While a few of the names may be familiar, most of the women featured in “Groundbreakers, Rule-breakers & Rebels” were ordinary citizens who successfully propelled the causes they believed in.
Among them, S. Louise Marsh, a resident of Webster Groves who fought to ensure that mothers had equal say in decisions regarding their children.
“She was a housewife, just your normal mother of two,” Moon said. “She discovered this story about a 15-year-old girl who was being raised in an orphanage and was forced to give her earnings to her alcoholic father. Marsh started looking at the law, which, at the time, gave fathers total control over their children – they even had the right to sell their children.”
As a woman in the early 1900s, Marsh was unable to take the case to court or submit legislation on her own. Undeterred, she enlisted the help of a labor attorney, and they worked together to write and submit a joint guardianship law to the Missouri Senate, according to Moon.
“She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, whose (6,000-plus) members wrote written pledges of support,” Moon said. “The law was passed through both houses of the state legislature.”
The Marsh Joint Guardianship Law, as it was known, took effect in 1913, granting equal rights to both parents when it comes to matters regarding their children.
St. Louisan Pearl Maddox was another woman who was ahead of her time, according to Moon. In 1944, Maddox organized the Citizens Civil Rights Committee, an integrated group of women who wanted to bring attention to the unequal treatment of African Americans – especially Black women – in the labor force and in society. They staged a sit-in at the Stix, Baer & Fuller lunch counter downtown, where Maddox and four other women sat for hours but were never served. Back then, while most department stores allowed African Americans to shop, they were barred from applying for work or being served at the lunch counters.
“Pearl and these women – who were part of these organizations, who thought of these seemingly insignificant and small ways of making change – sat for over a year, sitting and demanding equality,” Moon said. “There wasn’t anything violent, all (Pearl) was saying was, ‘You need to see me.’”
Maddox and her group went on to target other major department stores in St. Louis, including Famous-Barr (now Macy’s), and held sit-ins at various locations for almost a year. Their non-violent expressions of protest took place two decades before the mass, nationwide sit-ins during the civil rights movements.
Also in the 1940s, a St. Louis homeowner, Ethel Shelley, fought alongside her husband to secure a home for their family – a fight that took them all the way to the Supreme Court.
“Both she and her husband worked. They had six children living in a small apartment, so they saved their money and bought this house on Labadie Avenue. They moved in, not really knowing what they were walking into,” Moon said. “And as soon as they moved in, there were people saying they couldn’t – it’s that history of redlining and racial covenants in St. Louis that required homeowners to sell their property exclusively to white buyers.”
The Shelleys were sued by their neighbors for violating the housing covenant simply because of the color of their skin. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in favor of the neighbors, forcing the Shelleys to take their case to the highest court in the land. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Missouri verdict, by a 6-0 vote, granting Shelley and her family equal protection under the law.
“She’s definitely a hero in the larger sense of the word,” Moon noted. “She expected more out of her life – just the idea of wanting to build equity in a home and creating this legacy for her children – she did what she thought she needed to do. How groundbreaking it was then!”
Moon hopes “Groundbreakers, Rule-breakers & Rebels” serves as a starting point for discovering many more unsung individuals.
“Our modern sensibility is to only see what’s bad in the world. These women are a great reminder that a lot of work has been done, that a lot of sweat and tears have gone into the work,” she said. “These women showed us that no effort is too small, and enthusiasm goes a long way. Progress continues to be made. If you look for these kinds of people, you will find them.”
“Groundbreakers, Rule-breakers & Rebels” by Katie Moon with illustrations by Rori! is available at the Missouri History Museum gift shop and on Amazon.
