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Do not fill this in! ==History== {{more citations needed section|date=August 2017}}<!--very few citations here, see [[WP:SUMMARY]]--> {{Main|History of Missouri}} {{external media | width = 210px | headerimage = [[File:Westminister College gym from NE 1.JPG|210px]] | float = right | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hr9gyOVJYM&list=TL4qgywHm9Vt3C-vp93BZxQK7D55YBIGI_ Missouri], Westminster College Gymnasium in Fulton, Missouri}} === Early history === [[Archaeology|Archaeological]] excavations along river valleys have shown continuous habitation since about 9000 BCE.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Missouri - History|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Missouri-state|access-date=March 3, 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|archive-date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309080758/https://www.britannica.com/place/Missouri-state|url-status=live}}</ref> Beginning before 1000 [[Common Era|CE]], the people of the [[Mississippian culture]] created regional political centers at present-day [[St. Louis]] and across the [[Mississippi River]] at [[Cahokia]], near present-day [[Collinsville, Illinois]]. Their large cities included thousands of individual residences. Still, they are known for their surviving massive [[Earthwork (archaeology)|earthwork mounds]], built for religious, political and social reasons, in [[Platform mound|platform]], [[ridge]]top and [[Cone (geometry)|conical]] shapes. Cahokia was the center of a regional trading network that reached from the [[Great Lakes]] to the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. The civilization declined by 1400 CE, and most descendants left the area long before the arrival of Europeans. St. Louis was at one time known as Mound City by the European Americans because of the numerous surviving prehistoric mounds since lost to urban development. The Mississippian culture left mounds throughout the middle Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, extending into the southeast and the upper river. [[File:Gateway Arch edit1.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Gateway Arch]] in St. Louis]] The land that became the state of Missouri was part of numerous different territories possessed changing and often indeterminate borders and had many different [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] and European names between the 1600s and statehood. For much of the first half of the 1700s, the west bank of the [[Mississippi River]] that would become Missouri was mostly uninhabited, something of a no man's land that kept peace between the [[Illinois]] on the east bank of the Mississippi River and to the North, and the Osage and Missouri Indians of the lower Missouri Valley. In the early 1700s, French traders and missionaries explored the whole of the Mississippi Valley, named the region "Louisiana". Around the same time, a different group of French Canadians who established five villages on the east bank of the Mississippi River placed their settlements in the le pays des Illinois, "the country of the Illinois". When habitants{{snd}}settlers of [[French Canadians|French Canadian]] descent{{snd}}began crossing the Mississippi River to establish settlements such as Ste. Genevieve, they continued to place their settlements in the Illinois Country. At the same time, the French settlements on both sides of the Mississippi River were part of the French province of [[Louisiana]]. To distinguish the settlements in the Middle Mississippi Valley from French settlements in the lower Mississippi Valley around New Orleans, French officials and inhabitants referred to the Middle Mississippi Valley as La Haute Louisiane, "The High Louisiana", or "Upper Louisiana". The first European settlers were mostly ethnic [[French Canadian]]s, who created their first settlement in Missouri at present-day [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve]], about an hour south of St. Louis. They had migrated about 1750 from the [[Illinois]] Country. They came from colonial villages on the east side of the Mississippi River, where soils were becoming exhausted, and there was insufficient river bottom land for the growing population. The early Missouri [[Human settlement|settlements]] included many enslaved Africans and Native Americans, and slave labor was central to both commercial agriculture and the fur trade. Sainte-Geneviève became a thriving agricultural center, producing enough surplus wheat, [[Maize|corn]] and tobacco to ship tons of grain annually downriver to Lower Louisiana for trade. Grain production in the Illinois Country was critical to the survival of Lower Louisiana and especially the city of New Orleans. St. Louis was founded soon after by French [[fur traders]], [[Pierre Laclède]] and stepson [[Auguste Chouteau]] from New Orleans in 1764. From 1764 to 1803, European control of the area west of the Mississippi to the northernmost part of the Missouri River basin, called Louisiana, was assumed by the Spanish as part of the Viceroyalty of [[New Spain]], due to [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]]<ref name="foley 1989 26">Foley (1989), 26.</ref> (in order to have Spain join with France in the war against England). The arrival of the Spanish in St. Louis was in September 1767. St. Louis became the center of a regional [[fur trade]] with Native American tribes that extended up the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, which dominated the regional economy for decades. Trading partners of major firms shipped their furs from St. Louis by river down to New Orleans for export to Europe. They provided a variety of goods to traders for sale and trade with their Native American clients. The fur trade and associated businesses made St. Louis an early financial center and provided the wealth for some to build fine houses and import luxury items. Its location near the confluence of the Illinois River meant it also handled produce from the agricultural areas. River traffic and trade along the Mississippi were integral to the state's economy. As the area's first major city, St. Louis expanded greatly after the invention of the [[steamboat]] and the increased river trade. ===19th century=== [[File:George Caleb Bingham 001.jpg|thumb|''[[Fur Traders Descending the Missouri]]'' by Missouri painter [[George Caleb Bingham]]]] Napoleon Bonaparte had gained Louisiana for French ownership from Spain in 1800 under the [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso|Treaty of San Ildefonso]] after it had been a Spanish colony since 1762, but the treaty was kept secret. Louisiana remained nominally under Spanish control until a transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the cession to the United States. Part of the 1803 [[Louisiana Purchase]] by the United States, Missouri earned the nickname ''Gateway to the West'' because it served as a significant departure point for expeditions and settlers heading to the West during the 19th century. [[St. Charles, Missouri|St. Charles]], just west of St. Louis, was the starting point and the return destination of the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]], which ascended the Missouri River in 1804, to explore the western lands to the Pacific Ocean. [[St. Louis]] was a major supply point for decades, for parties of settlers heading west. As many of the early settlers in western Missouri migrated from the [[Upper South]], they brought enslaved [[African American]]s as agricultural laborers, and they desired to continue their culture and the institution of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]]. They settled predominantly in 17 counties along the [[Missouri River]], in an area of flatlands that enabled [[Plantations in the American South|plantation]] agriculture and became known as "[[Little Dixie (Missouri)|Little Dixie]]". The state was rocked by the [[1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes]]. Casualties were few due to the sparse population. ===Admission as a state in 1821=== {{See also|History of slavery in Missouri}} [[File:United States 1821-08-1822.png|thumb|upright=1.5|The states and territories of the United States as a result of Missouri's admission as a state on August 10, 1821. The remainder of the former [[Missouri Territory]] became unorganized territory.]] In 1821, the former Missouri Territory was admitted as a [[Slave and free states|slave state]], under the [[Missouri Compromise]], and with a temporary state capital in St. Charles. In 1826, the [[Capital city|capital]] was shifted to its current, permanent location of [[Jefferson City, Missouri|Jefferson City]], also on the Missouri River. Originally the state's western border was a straight line, defined as the meridian passing through the Kawsmouth,<ref>Hoffhaus. (1984). ''Chez Les Canses: Three Centuries at Kawsmouth'', Kansas City: Lowell Press. {{ISBN|0-913504-91-2}}.</ref> the point where the [[Kansas River]] enters the Missouri River. The river has moved since this designation. This line is known as the Osage Boundary.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/48/660/case.html |title=''MISSOURI V. IOWA'', 48 U.S. 660 (1849)—US Supreme Court Cases from Justia & Oyez |publisher=Supreme.justia.com |access-date=July 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111095858/http://supreme.justia.com/us/48/660/case.html |archive-date=November 11, 2010 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1836 the [[Platte Purchase]] was added to the northwest corner of the state after purchase of the land from the native tribes, making the Missouri River the border north of the Kansas River. This addition increased the land area of what was already the largest state in the Union at the time (about {{convert|66500|sqmi|km2}} to Virginia's 65,000 square miles, which then included West Virginia).<ref>[[D.W. Meinig|Meinig, D.W.]] (1993). ''The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History'', ''Volume 2: Continental America, 1800–1867''. New Haven: Yale University Press. {{ISBN|0-300-05658-3}}; pg. 437</ref> In the early 1830s, [[Mormon]] migrants from northern states and Canada began settling near [[Independence, Missouri|Independence]] and areas just north of there. Conflicts over religion and slavery arose between the 'old settlers' (mainly from the South) and the Mormons (mainly from the North). The [[Mormon War (1838)|Mormon War]] erupted in 1838. By 1839, with the help of an "Extermination Order" by Governor [[Lilburn Boggs]], the old settlers forcibly expelled the Mormons from Missouri and confiscated their lands. Conflicts over slavery exacerbated border tensions among the states and territories. From 1838 to 1839, a border dispute with [[Iowa]] over the so-called [[Honey Lands]] resulted in both states' calling-up of [[Militia (United States)|militias]] along the border. With increasing migration, from the 1830s to the 1860s, Missouri's population almost doubled with every decade. Most newcomers were American-born, but many Irish and German immigrants arrived in the late 1840s and 1850s. As a majority were [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], they set up their own religious institutions in the state, which had been mostly [[Protestant]]. Many settled in cities, creating a regional and then state network of Catholic churches and schools. 19th-century German immigrants created the wine industry along the Missouri River and the beer industry in St. Louis. While many German immigrants were strongly anti-slavery,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/little-known-history-german-immigrants-missouri-were-anti-slavery-allies|title=A Little-Known History: German Immigrants In Missouri Were Anti-Slavery Allies|last=Davis|first=Chad|website=news.stlpublicradio.org|date=February 21, 2019|access-date=October 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029004344/https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/little-known-history-german-immigrants-missouri-were-anti-slavery-allies|archive-date=October 29, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/cultural-resources/preservation-plan/Part-I-Peopling-St-Louis.cfm|title=Part I: Peopling St. Louis|website=stlouis-mo.gov|access-date=October 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029004330/https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/cultural-resources/preservation-plan/Part-I-Peopling-St-Louis.cfm|archive-date=October 29, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> many Irish immigrants living in cities were pro-slavery, fearing that liberating African-American slaves would create a glut of unskilled labor, driving wages down.<ref name=":1" /> Most Missouri farmers practiced [[subsistence farming]] before the [[American Civil War]]. The majority of those who held slaves had fewer than five each. [[Planter (plantation owner)|Planters]], defined by some historians as those holding 20 slaves or more, were concentrated in the counties known as "[[Little Dixie (Missouri)|Little Dixie]]", in the central part of the state along the [[Missouri River]]. The tensions over slavery chiefly had to do with the future of the state and nation. In 1860, enslaved [[African American]]s made up less than 10% of the state's population of 1,182,012.<ref>[http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/ Historical Census Browser, 1860 Federal Census, University of Virginia Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091206001455/http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/ |date=December 6, 2009 }}. Retrieved March 21, 2008.</ref> In order to control the flooding of farmland and low-lying villages along the Mississippi, the state had completed construction of {{convert|140|mi|km}} of [[levee]]s along the river by 1860.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1874/10/13/archives/louisiana-the-levee-system-of-the-state-overflows-and-how-they-are.html "Louisiana: The Levee System of the State"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721014538/https://www.nytimes.com/1874/10/13/archives/louisiana-the-levee-system-of-the-state-overflows-and-how-they-are.html |date=July 21, 2018 }}, ''New York Times'', October 8, 1874; Retrieved November 15, 2007</ref> ===American Civil War=== {{Main|Ordinance of Secession|Missouri in the American Civil War|Confederate government of Missouri}} [[File:NPS CW at a Glance Western 1864.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|[[Price's Raid]] in the [[Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War|Trans-Mississippi Theater]], 1864]] After the secession of Southern states began in 1861, the Missouri legislature called for the election of a special convention on secession. This convention voted against secession, but also qualified their support of the Union. In the aftermath of [[Battle of Fort Sumter]] Pro-Southern Governor [[Claiborne F. Jackson]] ordered the mobilization of several hundred members of the state militia who had gathered in a camp in [[St. Louis]] for training. In secret, he also requested Confederate arms and artillery to help take the [[St. Louis Arsenal]]. Alarmed at this action, and discovering the Confederate aid, General [[Nathaniel Lyon]] struck first, encircling the camp and forcing the state troops to surrender. Lyon directed his soldiers, largely non-English-speaking German [[immigrants]], to march the prisoners through the streets, and this led to riot by pro-secession citizens. While it is disputed how it started, this riot led to violence and Union soldiers killed by St. Louis civilians. The event as a whole, is called the [[Camp Jackson Affair]]. These events sharpened the divisions within the state. Governor Jackson appointed [[Sterling Price]], president of the convention on secession, as head of the new [[Missouri State Guard]]. In the face of Union General Lyon's rapid advance through the state, Jackson and Price were forced to flee the capital of [[Jefferson City]] on June 14, 1861. In [[Neosho, Missouri]], Jackson called the state legislature into session to call for secession. However, the elected legislative body was split between pro-Union and pro-Confederate. As such, few of the pro-unionist attended the session called in Neosho, and the ordinance of secession was quickly adopted. The Confederacy recognized Missouri secession on October 30, 1861. With the elected governor absent from the capital and the legislators largely dispersed, the state convention was reassembled with most of its members present, save twenty who fled south with Jackson's forces. The convention declared all offices vacant and installed [[Hamilton Gamble]] as the new governor of Missouri. President Lincoln's administration immediately recognized Gamble's government as the legal Missouri government. The federal government's decision enabled raising pro-Union militia forces for service within the state and volunteer regiments for the Union Army. Fighting ensued between Union forces and a combined army of General Price's Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops from [[Arkansas]] and Texas under General [[Ben McCulloch]]. After winning victories at the [[battle of Wilson's Creek]] and the siege of [[Lexington, Missouri]] and suffering losses elsewhere, the Confederate forces retreated to Arkansas and later [[Marshall, Texas]], in the face of a largely reinforced Union Army. Though regular Confederate troops staged some large-scale raids into Missouri, the fighting in the state for the next three years consisted chiefly of [[guerrilla warfare]]. "Citizen soldiers" or insurgents such as Captain [[William Quantrill]], [[Frank James|Frank]] and [[Jesse James]], the [[James-Younger gang|Younger brothers]], and [[William T. Anderson]] made use of quick, small-unit tactics. Pioneered by the Missouri Partisan Rangers, such insurgencies also arose in portions of the Confederacy occupied by the Union during the Civil War. Historians have portrayed stories of the James brothers' outlaw years as an American "Robin Hood" myth.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Steckmesser Kent L | year = 1966 | title = Robin Hood and the American Outlaw: A Note on History and Folklore | journal = Journal of American Folklore | volume = 79 | issue = 312| pages = 348–355 | jstor=538043| doi = 10.2307/538043 }}</ref> The vigilante activities of the [[Bald Knobbers]] of the Ozarks in the 1880s were an unofficial continuation of insurgent mentality long after the official end of the war, and they are a favorite theme in [[Branson, Missouri|Branson's self-image]].<ref>Mary Hartman and Elmo Ingenthron. ''Bald Knobbers: Vigilantes on the Ozarks Frontier'' (1988)</ref> === Reconstruction period and later 19th century === ===20th century=== [[File:PASSENGERS JAM THE INTERIOR OF THE ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, UNION STATION IN A COPYRIGHTED PICTURE TAKEN BY B.A. ATWATER... - NARA - 556056.jpg|thumb|left|[[Union Station (St. Louis)|Union Station]] in St. Louis was the world's largest and busiest train station when it opened in 1894.]] [[File:Child workers in Kirksville, MO.jpg|thumb|Child shoe workers in [[Kirksville, Missouri]], 1910]] The [[Progressive Era]] (1890s to 1920s) saw numerous prominent leaders from Missouri trying to end corruption and modernize politics, government, and society. [[Joseph Folk|Joseph "Holy Joe" Folk]] was a key leader who made a strong appeal to the middle class and rural evangelical Protestants. Folk was elected governor as a progressive reformer and [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] in the [[Missouri gubernatorial election, 1904|1904 election]]. He promoted what he called "the Missouri Idea", the concept of Missouri as a leader in public morality through popular control of law and strict enforcement. He successfully conducted antitrust prosecutions, ended free railroad passes for state officials, extended bribery statutes, improved election laws, required formal registration for lobbyists, made racetrack gambling illegal and enforced the Sunday-closing law. He helped enact Progressive legislation, including an initiative and referendum provision, regulation of elections, education, employment and child labor, railroads, food, business, and public utilities. Several efficiency-oriented examiner boards and commissions were established during Folk's administration, including many agricultural boards and the Missouri library commission.<ref>Steven L. Piott, ''Holy Joe: Joseph Folk and the Missouri Idea'' (1997)</ref> [[File:General John Joseph Pershing head on shoulders.jpg|thumb|left|upright|General John J. Pershing, commander of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] in World War I, was raised in [[Laclede, Missouri]].]] Between the Civil War and the end of World War II, Missouri transitioned from a rural economy to a hybrid industrial-service-agricultural economy as the Midwest rapidly industrialized. The expansion of railroads to the West transformed Kansas City into a major transportation hub within the nation. The growth of the Texas cattle industry along with this increased rail infrastructure and the invention of the [[refrigerated boxcar]] also made Kansas City a major [[meatpacking]] center, as large [[cattle drives]] from Texas brought herds of cattle to [[Dodge City]] and other Kansas towns. There, the cattle were loaded onto trains destined for Kansas City, where they were butchered and distributed to the eastern markets. The first half of the 20th century was the height of Kansas City's prominence, and its downtown became a showcase for stylish [[Art Deco]] [[skyscrapers]] as construction boomed. [[File:Boy resting on bed in attic of sharecropper shack, New Madrid County, Missouri.jpg|thumb|African American boy in a [[sharecropping#United States|sharecropper]] shack, [[New Madrid County]], 1938.]] In 1930, there was a [[diphtheria]] epidemic in the area around Springfield, which killed approximately 100 people. Serum was rushed to the area, and medical personnel stopped the epidemic. During the mid-1950s and 1960s, St. Louis and Kansas City suffered deindustrialization and loss of jobs in railroads and manufacturing, as did other [[Midwestern]] industrial cities. In 1956 [[St. Charles, Missouri|St. Charles]] claims to be the site of the first [[Interstate Highway System|interstate]] highway project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/rw96h.cfm |title=First interstate project |publisher=Fhwa.dot.gov |access-date=May 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607064752/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/rw96h.cfm |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Such highway construction made it easy for middle-class residents to leave the city for newer housing developed in the suburbs, often former farmland where land was available at lower prices. These major cities have gone through decades of readjustment to develop different economies and adjust to demographic changes. Suburban areas have developed separate job markets, both in knowledge industries and services, such as major retail malls. ===21st century=== In 2014, Missouri received national attention for the [[Ferguson unrest|protests and riots]] that followed the [[shooting of Michael Brown]] by a police officer of [[Ferguson, Missouri|Ferguson]],<ref>{{cite web |first=Eliott C. |last=McLaughlin |title=What we know about Michael Brown's shooting |work=[[CNN]] |date=August 15, 2014 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/us/missouri-ferguson-michael-brown-what-we-know/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825101929/http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/us/missouri-ferguson-michael-brown-what-we-know/index.html |archive-date=August 25, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=David |last=Carr |title=View of #Ferguson Thrust Michael Brown Shooting to National Attention |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 17, 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/business/media/view-of-ferguson-thrust-michael-brown-shooting-to-national-attention.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810171608/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/business/media/view-of-ferguson-thrust-michael-brown-shooting-to-national-attention.html |archive-date=August 10, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Jamelle |last=Bouie |title=Why the Fires in Ferguson Won't End Soon |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=August 19, 2014 |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/08/ferguson_protests_over_michael_brown_won_t_end_soon_the_black_community.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831214449/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/08/ferguson_protests_over_michael_brown_won_t_end_soon_the_black_community.html |archive-date=August 31, 2017 }}.</ref> which led Governor [[Jay Nixon]] to call out the [[Missouri National Guard]].<ref name=NYTaug19>{{Cite news | last1 = Davey | first1 = Monica | last2 = Eligon | first2 = John | last3 = Blinder | first3 = Alan | title = National Guard Troops Fail to Quell Unrest in Ferguson | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/us/ferguson-missouri-protests.html?_r=0 | work = The New York Times | date = August 19, 2014 | access-date = August 19, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140819234813/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/us/ferguson-missouri-protests.html?_r=0 | archive-date = August 19, 2014 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Hartmann|first1=Margaret|title=National Guard Deployed After Chaotic, Violent Night in Ferguson|url=https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/08/national-guard-called-after-more-ferguson-chaos.html|publisher=NY Magazine |work=Intelligencer |date=August 18, 2014 |access-date=August 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819102937/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/08/national-guard-called-after-more-ferguson-chaos.html|archive-date=August 19, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> A [[Grand juries in the United States|grand jury]] declined to [[indict]] the officer, and the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] concluded, after careful investigation, that the police officer legitimately feared for his safety.<ref>{{cite report |publisher=U.S. Department of Justice |title=Department of Justice Report Regarding the Criminal Investigation Into the Shooting Death of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri Police Officer Darren Wilson |date=March 4, 2015 |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/doj_report_on_shooting_of_michael_brown_1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731233723/https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/doj_report_on_shooting_of_michael_brown_1.pdf |archive-date=July 31, 2017}}</ref> However, in a separate investigation, the Department of Justice also found that the Ferguson Police Department and the City of Ferguson relied on unconstitutional practices in order to balance the city's budget through racially motivated excessive fines and punishments,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Apuzzo|first1=Matt|title=Ferguson Police Routinely Violate Rights of Blacks, Justice Dept. Finds|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/justice-department-finds-pattern-of-police-bias-and-excessive-force-in-ferguson.html|access-date=March 4, 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303220058/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/justice-department-finds-pattern-of-police-bias-and-excessive-force-in-ferguson.html|archive-date=March 3, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> that the Ferguson police "had used excessive and dangerous force and had disproportionately targeted blacks,"<ref>{{cite web |work=NBC News |title=Ferguson Officials Suspended After DOJ Report Have Resigned, City Confirms |date=March 7, 2015 |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/ferguson-officials-suspended-after-doj-report-have-resigned-city-confirms-n318836 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810233038/http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/ferguson-officials-suspended-after-doj-report-have-resigned-city-confirms-n318836 |archive-date=August 10, 2017 }}</ref> and that the municipal court "emphasized revenue over public safety, leading to routine breaches of citizens' constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law."<ref>{{cite web |work=NBC News |title=Report on Ferguson Exposes Broader Effort to Reform Municipal Courts |date=March 3, 2015 |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/report-ferguson-exposes-broader-effort-reform-municipal-courts-n316716 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810031951/http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/report-ferguson-exposes-broader-effort-reform-municipal-courts-n316716 |archive-date=August 10, 2017 }}.</ref> [[2015–16 University of Missouri protests|A series of student protests]] at the [[University of Missouri]] against what the protesters viewed as poor response by the administration to racist incidents on campus began in September 2015.<ref name="colu_Stud">{{Cite news |title=Students march through MU Student Center in protest of racial injustice |last=Naskidashvili |first=Nana |work=Columbia Missourian |date=October 1, 2015 |access-date=November 11, 2015 |url=http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/students-march-through-mu-student-center-in-protest-of-racial/article_4b8e3458-688b-11e5-8412-9b38a4d41eb8.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708052809/http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/students-march-through-mu-student-center-in-protest-of-racial/article_4b8e3458-688b-11e5-8412-9b38a4d41eb8.html |archive-date=July 8, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="them_Seco">{{Cite news |title=Second 'Racism Lives Here' event calls for administration to act on social injustices |last=Plaster |first=Madison |work=The Maneater |date=October 1, 2015 |access-date=November 11, 2015 |url=http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/10/1/second-racism-lives-here-event-calls-administratio/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151111035002/http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2015/10/1/second-racism-lives-here-event-calls-administratio/ |archive-date=November 11, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref> On June 7, 2017, the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] issued a warning to prospective African-American travelers to Missouri. This is the first NAACP warning ever covering an entire state.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.monaacp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/170605-NAACP-MO-Travel-Advisory.pdf |title=Urgent–Missouri Travel Advisory |publisher=National Association for the Advancement of Colored People |date=June 7, 2017 |access-date=April 17, 2021 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225003952/http://www.monaacp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/170605-NAACP-MO-Travel-Advisory.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Nancy |last=Coleman |title=NAACP issues its first statewide travel advisory, for Missouri |work=[[CNN]] |date=August 3, 2017 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/us/naacp-missouri-travel-advisory-trnd/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028030940/http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/us/naacp-missouri-travel-advisory-trnd/index.html |archive-date=October 28, 2017}}</ref> According to a 2018 report by the [[Missouri Attorney General]]'s office, for the past 18 years, "African Americans, Hispanics and other people of color are disproportionately affected by stops, searches and arrests."<ref>{{cite news |title=Black Drivers Stopped in Missouri at a Rate 85 Percent Higher Than Whites |first=Alison |last=Gold |date=June 1, 2018 |newspaper=[[Riverfront Times]] |url=https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/06/01/black-drivers-stopped-in-missouri-at-a-rate-85-percent-higher-than-whites |access-date=July 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705175738/https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2018/06/01/black-drivers-stopped-in-missouri-at-a-rate-85-percent-higher-than-whites |archive-date=July 5, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> The same report found that the biggest discrepancy was in 2017, when "black motorists were 85% more likely to be pulled over in traffic stops".<ref>{{cite news |title='Predatory police': the high price of driving while black in Missouri |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |first=Jamiles |last=Lartey |date=July 5, 2018 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/05/missouri-driving-while-black-st-louis |access-date=July 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705140213/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/05/missouri-driving-while-black-st-louis |archive-date=July 5, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2018 the USDA announced its plans to relocate Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA) to Kansas City. They have since decided on a specific location in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.<ref>{{Cite press release|url=https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2019/10/31/secretary-perdue-announces-lease-ers-and-nifa-kansas-city-mo|title=Secretary Perdue Announces Lease for ERS and NIFA in Kansas City, MO|publisher=US Department of Agriculture|date=October 31, 2019|access-date=December 22, 2019|archive-date=December 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222130126/https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2019/10/31/secretary-perdue-announces-lease-ers-and-nifa-kansas-city-mo|url-status=live}}</ref> With the addition of the KC Streetcar project and construction of the Sprint Center Arena, the downtown area in KC has attracted investment in new offices, hotels, and residential complexes. Both Kansas City and St. Louis are undergoing a rebirth in their downtown areas with the addition of the new Power & Light (KC) and Ballpark Village (STL) districts and the renovation of existing historical buildings in each downtown area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kmov.com/news/nearly-billion-in-development-underway-in-st-louis-city/article_5da13736-0571-11e9-bd69-cbe203940e16.html|title=Nearly $8 billion in development underway in St. Louis City|website=KMOV.com|access-date=December 22, 2019|archive-date=December 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222130126/https://www.kmov.com/news/nearly-billion-in-development-underway-in-st-louis-city/article_5da13736-0571-11e9-bd69-cbe203940e16.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The 2019 announcement of an MLS expansion team in St. Louis is driving even more development in the downtown west area of St. Louis.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2019/11/07/mls-updates-a-timeline-for-a-team-name-and-how-the.html#g/458875/28|date=November 7, 2019|first=Erik|last=Siemers|work=St. Louis Business Journal|title=MLS: A timeline for a team name & how the stadium project expanded|access-date=December 22, 2019|archive-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919034227/https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2019/11/07/mls-updates-a-timeline-for-a-team-name-and-how-the.html#g/458875/28|url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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