Racial and Spatial Politics of Education in St. Louis, MO

During and after World War II, large numbers of African Americans from the South migrated to St. Louis, Missouri. Despite Missouri's de jure segregation laws, African Americans perceived the St. Louis area as having more opportunities for African Americans than there were available in the Deep South. The pace of this migration placed a strain on the St. Louis Public Schools to provide school building facilities to accommodate the rise in African American school age children. This issue was further illuminated after the symbolic Brown v. Board of Education decision that rendered segregated public schools in Missouri illegal. This study analyzed site selection and architecture of new African American elementary schools in north central St. Louis, Missouri, and their role, in maintaining a segregated school system. This study also examined the social and political context of the City of St. Louis to more richly explore the racism that guided construction policies of the St. Louis Board of Education. Critical Race Theory is used as an analytical framework for this study.