Tell the Whole Truth About the St. Louis Gateway Arch

Whenever I’m flying back into St. Louis from the East Coast, the pilot will generally alert passengers that if they look out the window, they can see the iconic Gateway Arch, an architectural wonder. Passengers who don’t have direct access to a window often strain their necks to get a good look of the towering structure protruding seemingly from the banks of the Mississippi River. Me? I return to my reading with a smirk on my face.

I’m sure most cities have a tourist attraction like the Gateway Arch, one that has a not-so-visible ugly history with working class people, especially people of color. With the Arch celebrating its 50th anniversary this month and seeing all the hoopla by white people, I am compelled to interject one of the most suppressed historical struggles affiliated with famous St. Louis landmark.

In 1964 Percy Green and Richard Daly climbed an unfinished leg of the Arch to protest the lack of jobs for black workers. Being that the Arch was a publicly funded project (the majority of the funds came from the feds), the ACTION organization raised the racist hiring practices in a most daring way. The dramatic feat made big headlines across the country and forced the construction management to hire African Americans. Yet, when you look at the Arch commemoration website, the timeline skips right over 1964 when Green and Daly made the climb. According to the history keepers at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, nothing of historical significance happened in 1964.

This wouldn’t be the first time Percy Green and ACTION were whited out regarding the history of the Gateway Arch. Folks have raised their opposition when books and documentaries made about the building of the Arch deliberately excluded the 1964 protesting of jobs.

Percy’s relevance to the St. Louis Civil Rights Movement and his particular relationship to the Arch is undebatable. When some community members got wind that Percy Green, respected civil and human rights activist, had not been invited to any of the anniversary activities, event organizers were confronted. Green received an after-thought invitation.

Racist historians and others would like to omit any knowledge about the contributions and struggles of people of color, women, LGBT and workers. One can’t call yourself recording and celebrating history if you don’t tell the whole history. You can’t just include the parts you like or agree with. OK, you can but it’s disingenuous and particularly disgusting if you’re white and deleting or revising the contributions of black folks that were made.

When I was researching the disruption and destruction of black neighborhoods in St. Louis for my book, Ferguson is America: Roots of Rebellion, I was surprised to see that the Missouri Department of Transportation took ownership of its negative role. The agency admitted that it construction policies “frequently led to the destruction of vibrant, working class neighborhoods” with black communities being especially vulnerable. This is taking an honest approach that I can respect.

To get a more balanced and objective insight on the topic, The Gateway Arch, is a good read. The book’s author, Traci Campbell, believed that any telling of the story about the building of the Arch needed to include the good, the bad and the ugly. That is the true nature of all things. Tell the whole truth.