The First Student Diversity & Inclusion Council (D&IC) is proud to recognize Mary Meachum during Black History Month. Mary Meachum was an abolitionist who helped educate and move enslaved people across the Mississippi River in St. Louis to Illinois.
Mary and her husband, John Berry Meachum were instrumental in educating and bettering the lives of enslaved people at the Candle Tallow School. Once Missouri outlawed education of black people in 1847; Mary & John moved their school to a steamboat on the river which couldn’t be enforced by Missouri Law. The school was known as the “Floating Freedom School.”
Mary passed away in 1869 and is buried in St. Louis, not far from First Student locations. In 2001, the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing was dedicated as part of the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
In support of Black History Month, First Student’s St. Louis team recently honored Mary at the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing site.
You can learn about Mary Meachum at aboutstlouis.com.