DAY 3 (October 9) - Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley NMon has units in Illinois and Mississippi. I visited the Robert Temple Church of God in Christ site in south Chicago. This church held the open-casket visitation and funeral for Emmett Till after his brutal slaughter in Mississippi. The painful decision by his mother allowed the world to see the violence perpetrated by racism. A plaque on the church says the funeral was a catalytic moment for the modern Civil Rights Movement.

DAY 2 (October 8) - Ste. Genevieve NHP preserves a small portion of the first European settlement in what is today Missouri. The town was established in 1750, but a major flood in 1785 had the townspeople move to a spot 3 miles to the northwest, away from the might Mississippi River. The Jean-Baptiste Valle house is across the street from the VC. The Green Tree Tavern is down the street. The park is relatively new so plenty of work is planned to add visitor experiences.

Ulysses S. Grant NHS has saved the house in which Grant and his wife lived from 1854 to 1859; White Haven. A few other original buildings are on the site, including the ice house and chicken house. Tours of the home’s interior are with a ranger. Portraits of Grant and his wife hang in the VC. The other main attraction in the park is the barn stables which Grant designed. Today it houses the park’s museum.

What is 630 feet tall and stands silently over the great city of St. Louis? Yes, the Gateway Arch. The view from the top is breathtaking. People look like ants from this height. This park is situated along the Mississippi River, as a memorial to the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804. The river is a major commercial path for moving freight. A large barge happened to be chugging by when I was at the top. To get to the top you have to board one of 16 small boxes (8 on each end of the Arch) for a 4-minute ride. The VC has a scale model of a box with a full-size man. Putting four people into this space makes for cramped quarters. The Old Court House (where the famous Dred Scott case was decided) is closed for renovations, so I could only view its dome from above.

DAY 1 (October 7) - Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality NMon is in the old National Woman’s Party HQ home (for ninety years), across the street from the U.S. Capitol. The first house on this lot, built in 1800, was D.C. home for Albert Gallatin while he was Secretary to the Treasury (see earlier Trip Report to his home in Pennsylvania). Then, in 1814, the British burned the home as retaliation when they invaded the Capital. The current house was built in 1820, one of the oldest residences in city.

Alice Paul and the NWR were at the forefront to obtain equal rights for women, with the first action being to gain enfranchisement. A photo of Paul receiving a call from First Lady Betty Ford, in 1977, on her 92nd birthday shows Paul with a large ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) blanket. She, the NWR, and others were instrumental in getting the 19th Amendment passed. The front foyer of the home has busts of Paul and other advocates who came before her (Paul is on the left, Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the middle, Lucretia Coffin Mott at the end… Alva Belmont’s bust is on the other side of the aisle). The house has many artifacts from the turn of the 20th century when the push was made to President Wilson and Congress to pass an amendment. An original banner using Susan B. Anthony’s words, “Failure is Impossible”, hangs on the wall of one of the first floor rooms.