Show-Me Missouri Life

John W. Brown is an author, television anchor, traveler, and storyteller, with a great passion for Missouri's people, places, and historical events. (He prefers not to be called a historian, but we kind of think that's exactly what he is).

In John's words: "People always ask me, you know, why are you so passionate about this state? And to me as I've looked into it from all over, from all across this state, Over all these years, we still have this inferiority complex that, you know, these amazing things only happen on the coast. That's not true. And you cannot read the books that I've written about the people and the famous places and the famous events and not realize there's something special about Missouri.

We were formed at a special time in this country's founding. We were so formative in the way the country grew after that, especially going to the west. And I just want people to realize that it doesn't matter what exit you take off I-70 I-44, 55, you name the highway. You jump off into one of those small towns and there's somebody who did something amazing from every one of those towns and I've kept track of them.

And so I still, whenever I drive across the state, I still talk to my family about, Hey, at this exit right here, the final piece of route 66 happened. At this exit right here, the great John Brown, from Dixon, Missouri, basketball legend he's from here. And so it doesn't matter where I go.

There's amazing stories. And so we need to realize something great has happened here. We have a great pass, but I still also think we have a great future in Missouri."

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Back in 1939, the world was a different place. For one thing, there were a lot more people involved in farming. In the Bootheel of Missouri, this meant cotton. Under the sharecropper model, those Missourians who grew cotton had no guarantees of a wage. They could be evicted anytime from the land on which they lived and worked.

In this episode of Mo’ Curious, we learn about the 1939 sharecroppers strike in Mississippi County, Missouri. It was on January 1 of that Depression year that Bootheel tenant farmers, or sharecroppers, participated in a protest. They camped on the roadside to draw attention to the deplorable economic and housing conditions that kept them impoverished and dependent.

For two months, fifteen hundred Missourians lived their lives on the side of Highway 60 between Sikeston and Charleston.

In order to bring a better understanding of the strike to area youth, we asked Charleston High School students to conduct oral history interviews. These interviews aimed to explain the strike and its legacy on the surrounding communities.

Mo’ Curious by Missouri Life is a podcast about the past, present, and future of the 24th state. Hear past episodes at MoCurious.com.

Madelyn Paine remembers getting weighed at the Dalton elevator. Diane Pippens feels her light skin helped her pass for white or Mexican when she integrated her town's high school. William Payne recalls the town's annual reunion where he met his future wife.

It was at Dalton, Missouri's annual reunion in 2021 that I did my first interview for this podcast episode. Throughout that summer and ending on Labor Day, my colleague Jennifer Thornburg and I conducted six oral histories with alumni from the former Dalton Vocational School in Chariton County. Dalton, now listed as a village by the U.S. Census Bureau, had an official population of seven in 2020.

Nathanial Bruce started the school for blacks in Dalton in 1907. Between 1907 and 1956, Bartlett Agricultural and Mechanical School (later Dalton Vocational School) graduated young men with skills in farming and machinery. Young women learned how to type and cook in preparation for future work in offices and as house-keepers.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that separate-but-equal facilities like schools were unconstitutional. This led to the closure of the school perched on the hillside in Dalton. After the 1956 school year, active Dalton students attended now-integrated schools in their hometowns.

Now seemed like a great time to gather memories of Dalton Vocational School from the shrinking pool of aging alumni. This podcast tells the story of Dalton Vocational School—Missouri's "Little Tuskegee"—in the former students' own words.

Episode 4 of the Mo' Curious by Missouri Life looks at the history of I-70, with a particular focus on how this busy highway is woven into the culture of communities across the Show-Me State. The episode also shows how the Missouri Highway Patrol interacts with the interstate and its motorists.

Mo' Curious is a podcast that explores the past, present, and future of the 24th state. It is created and hosted by Trevor Harris and proudly presented by Missouri Life.