Civil rights movement

Local playwright Kathleen Gamble's new play, “We Shall Not be Moved: The Jefferson Bank Protest,” tells the story of a critical period in St. Louis civil rights history.

“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.

Born in Boonville, Missouri, C.T. Vivian made his way from western Illinois to Nashville, where he became a civil rights leader and confidant of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Author Steve Fiffer discussed Vivian's memoir, which he co-authored, on "St. Louis on the Air."

University of Missouri-St. Louis sophomore Lucy Grimshaw grew up learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and the fraught times that shaped his life and…