Civil Rights

Little Rock Nine member Thelma Mothershed-Wair died this month in Arkansas. She taught in East St. Louis for nearly 20 years before retiring and working at the St. Clair County Jail and Juvenile Detention Center. She was 83.

Environmental justice activists in Illinois claimed a major victory last week when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruled that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency needs to revamp its process for permitting polluting industries in residential neighborhoods.

Dr. Travis Threats’ family was featured in “Silver Rights: The Story of the Carter Family’s Brave Decision to Send Their Children to an All-White Schools and Claim Their Civil Rights” in 1996.

“The whole purpose of racism from the beginning was to divide poor black and poor whites (so they could not) unite and create inclusive prosperity,” said former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.

St. Louis police Sgt. Jatonya Clayborn Muldrow alleges her transfer to another department was discriminatory, even though her title, pay and hours remained the same. Lower federal courts sided with the city, but the case made its way to the Supreme Court.

Why has student loan debt policy stagnated while the needs of American college students and graduates become more complex? The answer is frustratingly predictable.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s call for economic equality and workers’ rights have been diluted in political conversations, St. Louis University historian Christopher Tinson said. Politicians like to quote from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech but ignore the civil rights leader’s fight for workers and poor people.

Alabama native Bettie Mae Fikes discussed the voting rights bill and her history in the civil rights movement.

The EPA is investigating a complaint against the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, which represents the governors of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Thompson began political life after winning a seat on the city council that had denied her a building permit.