Articles

L.J. Bacote, born Lucille Jeanette Bledsoe in Huntingdon, Tennessee, was a musician, teacher, and choir director who spent over 50 years leading the senior choir at Second Baptist Church. Specializing in organ, piano, voice, and choral directing, she demanded musical excellence and spread her musical passion to generations of church goers and students.

Henry Vinton Plummer settled in Kansas City later in life, where he became a respected pastor known for speaking out against racism and supporting Black rights. Plummer was born into slavery in Maryland on July 30, 1844. When he was 18, during the height of the Civil War, he escaped and joined the U.S. Navy. After the war, Plummer married Julia Lomax, and in 1872, enrolled at Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C. After graduating, he served as pastor at St. Paul Baptist Church in Bladensburg, Maryland, and later at Mount Carmel Church in Washington, D.C.

Rev. John Lennis Preciphs was a minister and community organizer who was active in the local civil rights struggle for over 25 years.

Former Missouri Sen. Yvonne Starks Wilson was known for her fierce advocacy and dedication to public service. She was born in 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised by her grandparents in the historic Leeds Neighborhood. After graduating from Lincoln High School, Wilson earned a degree in elementary education from Lincoln University and a master’s in sociology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. For 35 years, she worked for the Kansas City School District and retired as Director of Elementary Education. She also became the first Black president of the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals.