The Black Heritage Water Trail of St. Louis is a collaborative research and community engagement initiative supported by the WashU & Slavery Project. The initiative documents, commemorates and engages historic African American community connections to the waterways of St. Louis.
The Black Heritage Water Trail of St. Louis explores and commemorates African American community stories through the rivers of greater St. Louis, aiming to strengthen connections to our rivers through research, remembrance and engagement. The water trail research has been an important aspect of WashU & Slavery Project research on slavery and its wake in St. Louis, and engages a number of other related interests in the natural and social world, including the arts, issues of migration, environmental justice, and stories of community resistance, resilience, place-making, and well-being. The initiative is dynamic like the rivers themselves, with research and development of its stories, practices, and resources being added and updated with insights from each excursion, and the conversations and encounters they create. Occasional excursions on the rivers are organized with campus and community partners. The digital resource below offers more background information on the initiative and a virtual experience of the water trail, through its stories, trail map and other resources.
