Porsha Key pairs engineering with fashion
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St. Louis American See page B1
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CAC Audited APRIL 13 – 19, 2023
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‘I want them to remember the truth.”
Former Mill Creek resident James Gallagher is living history By Sylvester Brown Jr. The St. Louis American
Former Mill Creek resident James Gallagher at St. Louis City SC Soccer Stadium at the Pillars of the Valley by artist Damon Davis. The sculpture represents the neighborhood that was demolished to make room for what is now known as Downtown West.
Although Barbara Bracken Martin, chair of the Mill Creek Valley Commemoration Committee, reached out to the American for a story, she was hesitant to be interviewed. “There’s a better person you really should be interviewing,” Bracken Martin insisted. “He’s in his early 80s but he knows places and boundaries and can name people who lived there.” The person she was referencing was James N. Gallagher, who was born in the late 1930s at 3433 Pine Street in Mill Creek Valley.
See GALLAGHER, A6
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Vol. 95 No. 2 COMPLIMENTARY
HSSU’s Collins Smith presidential investiture April 14 By Alvin A. Reid St. Louis American While she was appointed Harris-Stowe State University’s 21st president on March 1, 2022, LaTonia Collins Smith’s investiture and inauguration will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, April 14, 2023, in the Henry Givens, Jr. Administration Building, Dr. Dwaun J. Warmack Auditorium on the campus. She is the university’s first African-American woman to serve as presLaTonia ident, following Ruth Collins Harris, the first Black Smith, Ed.D woman to serve as Stowe Teachers College president in 1940. Collins Smith’s path to the presidency began unexpectedly when then HSSU President Corey Bradford left the post abruptly in June 2021. She began her career in higher education at HSSU in 2010 and has served the University in sev-
See COLLINS SMITH, A7
Nicole Robinson:
Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
Bingo!
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones raises hers arms in victory after winning a bingo game at the Oak Street Health North City Primary Care Clinic for seniors after losing 6 games in a row Tues. April 11, 2023. Applauding her is her table mate Larry Hodge.
Tennessee lawmakers back on their job Both Blacks reappointed after GOP ouster
St. Louis American staff To the delight of a cheering crowd in Memphis, Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson shouted “You can’t expel hope.” Earlier on Wednesday, the Shelby County Board of Commissioners appointed him to represent the district in the Tennessee House after he and fellow Black Democrat Justin Jones were expelled last week. “Nashville thought they could
silence democracy, but they didn’t know that the Shelby County Commission was filled with some courageous leaders,” said Pearson, who will serve on an interim basis in the legislature. The vote to return Pearson to his seat — vacated last Thursday when the GOP-dominated chamber expelled the state representative after he and two other Democrats called for gun reform on the chamber floor — came after the board voted to
BUSINESS
Revitalizing Jeff-Vander-Lou with new housing project
Mayor Tishaura Jones took part in the groundbreaking of an affordable house project to help strengthen economic development opportunities in areas that have been ignored for decades.
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suspend a rule that would have required a waiting period between his nomination and confirmation. Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, participated in the protest but was not expelled. Johnson and Jones marched with Pearson and supporters to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, where, as expected, he was reappointed. Fellow lawmakers Rep. Justin Jones
See LAWMAKERS, A6
Engaging Black students with STLCC is essential She won trustee seat April 4
By Sylvester Brown, Jr. St. Louis American Nicole Robinson, ED.D, won a seat on the St. Louis Community College Board of Trustees on April 4 and she already has a “to do” list. Robinson, who has more than 13 years’ experience in leadership and management in both the public and private sectors, defeated incumbent Pam Ross. “It still feels unbelievable,” Robinson told the St. Louis American. It was a tight race. According to the uncertified results from the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, Robinson won by a mere 141 votes. St. Louis Community College is governed by six board members who represent the four sub districts of the
See ROBINSON, A7
SPORTS
Track and field in the starting block
Track and field is attracting more boys and girls than any sport, and is the most popular among girls. With boys, track and field is second only to football in popularity.
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