The American endorses Hillary Clinton for president
@stlouisamerican
Get out and vote on November 8th @stlouisamerican
2015 Newspaper of the Year!
See page A4
St. LouiS AmericAn The
CAC Audited OCT. 27 – NOV. 2, 2016
Vol. 88 No. 29 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
BFL brings black history to Page Blvd.
Salute to Business
Legal advocate and mentor Willie J. Epps Jr. is 2016 Corporate Executive of the Year By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Jackie Lewis-Harris chatted with Kathleen Hudson at the unveiling of Missouri’s largest black history mural at the Better Family Life Cultural, Education and Business Center, 5415 Page Blvd., on Friday, October 21. Lewis-Harris, director of Connecting Human Origin and Cultural Diversity at University of Missouri-St. Louis, is developing an educational program for the mural.
Deborah Ahmed: mural is ‘our history being told from our perspective’ By Mariah Stewart Of The St. Louis American Nearly three years in the making, Missouri’s largest black history mural was revealed Friday, October 21 at the Better Family Life (BFL) community center in
North St. Louis. The mural spans over 95 feet of wall in the entrance to the BFL Cultural, Education and Business Center, depicting thousands of years of history. “That mural, for us, represents inspirations,” Deborah Ahmed, BFL executive director, told attendees at the
See EPPS, A7
mural’s unveiling event. “It represents an accurate telling of our history. It represents our history being told from our perspective. It represents a vision for the future. It represents a vision of Page Boulevard.”
See BFL, A6
Judy Baker bids for state treasurer Faces Eric Schmitt on November 8 ballot
Making research relevant
By Jason Rosenbaum Of St. Louis Public Radio
Beyond Housing honored at 2016 Homer G. Phillips Lecture Chris Krehmeyer, president /CEO of Beyond Housing, listened to Carol Camp Yeakey, founding director of the Center for Urban Research and Public Policy at Washington University, deliver the 2016 Homer G. Phillips Lecture on Friday, October 21.
By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American The social responsibility of research to the community was the focus of this year’s Homer G. Phillips Lecture on Friday, October 21 at the Eric P. Newman Center at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL). “If we want our research to have lasting impact on improving society, we need to think critically about the questions we ask – and the questions we do not ask – and what influences that distinction,” said Carol Camp Yeakey, an endowed professor of arts and sciences and founding director of the Center for Urban Research and Public Policy at
See HOMER, A6
In a Natchez, Mississippi town in 1955, David French Bacon Jr. led several of his fellow residents to sign a petition to desegregate the schools. “That small act – which was very big in 1955 – led to a number of African Americans losing good-paying jobs in that community,” said Willie J. Epps Jr., associate general counsel and head of litigation at Edward Jones. “It led to my grandfather’s truck being bombed in the family’s Willie J. driveway. It led to the house Epps Jr. being stoned. My mom was nine years old at the time.” Bacon, Willie’s grandfather, was the leader of the town’s NAACP. Willie’s grandmother on his father’s side, Nancy Ellis Epps, risked her life to house freedom fighters in the early 1960s. And she also became the first black woman in Holmes County, Mississippi to vote. “She’s one of my heroes,” Willie said. “Because
Photo by Ingrum Studio
Judy Baker (D-Columbia) is running against state Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, in the contest to succeed state Treasurer Clint Zweifel. Zweifel is unable to run again, because the treasurer’s office is termlimited. Baker is a former state representative who served for two terms representing a Judy portion of Boone County. Before Baker running for state representative in 2004, Baker worked for several decades in the health-care industry. Despite the fact that she could have easily
See BAKER, A6