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St. LouiS AmericAn CAC Audited NOVEMBER 23 – 29, 2023
Serving, empowering and advocating for equity in St. Louis since 1928
Vol. 95 No. 34 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Gloria Taylor’s giving spirit has left us
A young living Legacy Inspired teen Legacy Jackson thankful to serve community By Ashley Winters St. Louis American Legacy Jackson is making a name for herself as a philanthropist who inspires young people to give back to the community. The 14-year-old freshman and cheerleader at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School, recently made history as the youngest person to lead a Ted Talk in the state of Missouri. The young scholar discussed the challenge of making community service fun to encourage teens to get involved in helping their respective neighborhoods. “The world will be a better place,” said Jackson. Jackson, who began volunteering with her family at age 4, noticed there weren’t kids her age involved. Three years later at seven years old, Jackson founded her nonprofit Little Legacies in 2016. The nonprofit has completed projects each month, ranging from starting a library with over 2,000 books for the Annie Malone
See JACKSON, A7
CWAH co-founder passes at 86 By Alvin A. Reid St. Louis American Gloria LaVal Taylor, a co-founder of Community Women Against Hardship and renowned health care advocate, passed on Nov. 18, 2023, at the age of 86. After reading a report detailing the height of poverty in families headed by Black females, Taylor and the late Betty J. Lee, a respected journalist and civil rights activist, founded the organization. The women did more than read the staGloria tistics. They acted by Taylor founding CWAH “with the idea that the people in need would one day be in a position to give back to others.” Taylor and Lee were employed by the late Marguerite Ross Barnett, former chancellor of the University of MissouriSt. Louis, when they read the dire poverty assessment. “I said, what can I do to make a difference?” said Taylor, who served as an executive assistant to the chancellor. “I’m here at the top of a university and what can I do now to give back?” Taylor and Lee purchased a former
Photo courtesy of Little Legacies
Legacy Jackson inspired young students during the “Hey Black Child – African American Bookcase” celebration during Black History Month 2023 at Hickey Elementary and Pre-K.
See TAYLOR, A6
Cleaver joins Bush in call for cease-fire in Gaza Photo by Wiley Price / St. Louis American
By Alvin A. Reid St. Louis American
University of Missouri Hall of Famer’s, Johnny Roland, Howard Richards and Pete Woods load Thanksgiving meals into cars at the Urban League building on North Kingshighway Tuesday, Nov. 21.
Mike McMillan, Urban League president and CEO said the annual event is also a testament to a region willing to help one another. “I get a tremendous amount of joy from seeing so many people from so many different backgrounds come together to serve their neighbors who are in need,” he said. McMillan said the rising costs of food and other expenses are impacting people on fixed incomes more now than in past
U.S Rep Cori Bush is no longer the only Missouri congressperson supporting a ceasefire in Gaza. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II of Kansas City said n “We have for the first time on Saturday that he too to have a favors a cease-fire and cessation of joins the more than 30 hostilities.” members of Congress who have called for a – U.S. Rep. cease-fire. Emanuel “We have to Cleaver II have a cessation of hostilities,” Cleaver told KCUR. “I think guns should go silent. We need to cease the fighting.” The Kansas City Democrat also committed to withdrawing House Bill 6367, the Armed Conflict Migration Act, which is meant to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza, but which critics say could
See GIVING, A6
See CLEAVER, A7
Giving it all Plenty of love and food handed out to open holiday season By Ashley Winters St. Louis American By 5 a.m. Tuesday vehicles began lining up on Page Boulevard near the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis headquarters at the N. Kingshighway intersection. A giveaway of turkeys and other food items would not begin until noon, and the line continued to stretch to the east. By 11 a.m., hundreds of vehicles stretched back Spring Ave. While it shows there is need in the Black community,
BUSINESS
HEALTH
‘Helping to nurture Black writers’
St. Louis has highest diabetes rate in state
Several departments and centers at Washington University have partnered with the River City Journalism Fund, which nurtures minority journalists. This partnership is led by Gerald Early
Black people are 2.5 times more likely to be hospitalized and twice as likely to die from diabetes. Since 2001, the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes for Black and Hispanic youth has increased by 95%.
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