Title	John Berry Meachum (1789-1854)
Creator
Subject	Abolition Abolitionist African Americans Bounty hunters Building trades Carpenter Churches Conductor Educator Enslaved People Free Black people Freedman Freedom Seeker Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 Fugitive slaves Literacy Meachum, John Berry Meachum, Mary Mississippi River Missouri Saint Louis Schools Shaw, Henry, 1800-1889 Slavery Steamboats Underground Railroad United States
Relation	PHO
Description	John Berry Meachum, husband of Mary Meachum. He and his wife were both freed persons engaged in the efforts of the Underground Railroad through their church, home, and school. A pastor and founder of the oldest black church in Missouri he was also a skilled carpenter. A trade he taught to those he assisted, a skill that afforded him income to help free enslaved people by buying their freedom. As an educator he operated a school which taught both free and enslaved black students. When the state of Missouri banned all education for blacks in 1847 he circumvented the law by teaching classes on a steamboat on the Mississippi River. The efforts of John and Mary Meachum are today celebrated with the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing.
Publisher	Missouri Botanical Garden
Contributor	Missouri Botanical Garden
Date of original
Date scanned
Type	Image
Format	TIF
Identifier	PHO 2020-0052
Source	Photograph
Language
Coverage
Rights	http://www.mobot.org/mobot/archives/copyright.asp
Width of original
Height of original
Condition of original	good