The Missouri Negro Industrial Commission was comprised of 16 members, one from each congressional district in the state appointed by the governor for a term of 4 years with the advice and consent of the senate. Its duties “were to discover, ferret out, survey, and recommend remedies—educational, moral, and industrial—for the betterment of the negroes …
Since Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not cover Missouri, the state’s Constitutional Convention voted on this day to abolish slavery in Missouri. Missouri was the first former slave state to do so.
Missouri’s role in the early civil rights movement.
President Harry Truman did away with segregation in the military with executive order 9981, making it a model for the rest of society.
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