By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A patch of green space in downtown St. Louis soon will be named for the first black judge to serve on the 8th Circuit federal court.
The federal courthouse in downtown St. Louis already is named for Tom Eagleton, so the latest effort is to re-name a park right across the street from the courthouse (which is also federal property).
If the president signs the bill authorizing the name change, as he's expected to do, the park will be named for the late Judge Clyde Cahill.
Cahill played a number of roles during the civil rights movement, including working for the NAACP in Missouri. He filed the first lawsuit in the state that called for the enforcement of the Brown Vs. Board of Education court ruling, and was the first black judge on the 8th federal circuit. President Jimmy Carter appointed Cahill to the bench.
Congressman Lacy Clay went to school with Cahill's children and sponsored the bill in Congress. "The most gentlest man you could ever meet," Clay said, in an interview. "It was just not in the same vain or mode of what you would think of for a judge. He had a very human side."
Judge Cahill died two years ago at the age of 81.