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African American Elite

A New Year’s Eve Party, 1889
The St. Louis community had several African-American newspapers. Some issues of the St. Louis Palladium and the St. Louis Argus are extant. St. Louis Public Library and the Emerson History and Genealogy Center at St. Louis County Library Clark Family Branch have microfilm of the surviving newspapers. St. Louis Public Library is indexing the obituaries in St. Louis Argus.

Apparently, it was common for African-American newspapers in other cities, such as Indianapolis and St. Paul, to report on St. Louis news. On 11 January 1890, the St. Paul Appeal reported on an “elegant” New Year’s Eve party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. James M. Armstrong located at 2627 Mills St. The Appeal noted that dancing continued until 4:00 a.m. and the newspaper presented a list of guests—“the elite of St. Louis Society.”

The list appears in the original order as published in 1890. Information in brackets was added based on other information, some drawn from other issues of the Appeal.

James Kendall provided this information in the 1993 St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume 26, number 4, pages 109–110.


Last modified: 02-Nov-2024 11:15