1972 SPECIAL REPORT: "BLACK ST. LOUIS"

"The problem of the twentieth century" wrote W. E. B. DuBois in The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, "is the problem of the color line." The words of the great African-American writer on race relations was as much a statement of historical trend as prophecy. By the time those words appeared in The Souls of Black Folk the lines of segregation in America were drawn in thick, bold lines. St. Louis was no different. Racial segregation was institutionalized in St. Louis by intent, accident, or benign neglect throughout its history, effecting the nature of race relations in the city today.