Whereas the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing is dedicated as part of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, located on the Mississippi Greenway along the St. Louis riverfront; Whereas Mary Meachum and her husband, Reverend John Berry Meachum, were abolitionists who dedicated their entire lives to educating and freeing enslaved people; Whereas John Berry Meachum, born enslaved on May 3, 1789, in Goochland County, Virginia, worked as a carpenter and purchased his own freedom at the age of 21; Whereas, after freeing himself from enslavement, Meachum walked 700 miles to Hanover County, Virginia, to purchase his father’s freedom; Whereas, after purchasing his father’s freedom, the pair walked 700 miles back to Kentucky, where they promptly purchased the freedom of John’s mother and siblings, with John meeting his future wife soon after; Whereas Mary Meachum was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1801 and forcibly relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, when she was only 14 years old; Whereas Mary was forced to leave behind her newly beloved, John Berry Meachum, but John followed her to St. Louis and bought her freedom; Whereas, in 1825, St. Louis passed an ordinance that made it illegal for Black Americans to assemble without a permit from the city and a police officer present, making education nearly impossible to attain; Whereas, in 1827, the couple established the First African Baptist Church in St. Louis, the oldest Black American church west of the Mississippi River, whose congregation primarily consisted of enslaved people who were permitted by their owners to attend; Whereas Reverend Meachum began a school for Black Americans and secretly taught students in the basement of the church by candlelight, also known as a candle tallow school; Whereas, in 1847, soon after Missouri outlawed all education for both freed and enslaved Black Missourians, the school was dismantled by the police