“. . . I improvised, crazed by the music. . . . Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.”

Josephine Baker only spent the first 15 years of her life in Missouri but she is one of the most well known women to have spent time in the state. She was born in St. Louis, dirt poor, and as a teen attracted attention for her street dancing which landed her in several vaudville shows. She was soon swept off to New York and became a part of the Harlem Rennaisance, dancing as a chorus girl in numerous broadway plays.

Josephine Baker came from extremely humble beginnings and yet developed the confidence and skills to achieve anything she set her mind to. She went against the grain of main stream society - not only in her performances (appearing nude), but also in her efforts to fight for civil rights (forcing integration by refusing to perform for segregated audiences). Baker did all sorts of interesting things: spied on the Nazis, adopted a dozen children, lived in a castle.

She's got a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame at 6501 Delmar, and is included in the Hall of Famous Missourians in Jefferson City.

Official Josephine Baker Site

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America's First Kindergarten

Susan Blow opened the first kindergarten in the United States, in St. Louis. While in Germany with her father, Susan saw first hand how Friedrich Froebel's theories (the founder of kindergarten or “children’s garden”) were being applied to early child education. She saw the importance and need back in America. So in 1873 she founded the first successful public kindergarten at Des Peres School in Carondelet, St. Louis Missouri, and ran it for the next eleven years without any pay. Blow taught children in the morning and teachers in the afternoon.

While most classrooms were plain, Blow’s kindergarten classroom was bright and cheerful. It had low tables and short benches just right for small children. The room contained many plants, books, and toys for children to use during work and play. Students learned about color, shapes, and fractions by using simple objects like balls and blocks. They also learned about keeping themselves clean, eating well, and getting regular exercise.

By 1883 every St. Louis public school had a kindergarten, making the city a model for the nation. Devoting her life to early education, Susan Blow was instrumental in establishing kindergartens throughout America.

She died in 1916 and was buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. You can also see a bust of Ms Blow in the Hall of Famous Missourians in the State Capitol in Jefferson City.