Freedom
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On Sunday, September 21, 2025 the public is invited to our Annual Archer Alexander Memorial service in honor of his Day of Freedom. Please join us at 1:00 p.m. in the St. Peter’s United Church of Christ Cemetery at 2101 Lucas and Hunt Road in Normandy (St. Louis) Missouri.
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Look closely at the look on Archer Alexander’s face. Have you seen this memorial before? It was dedicated in 1876, with over 25,000 black people attending and its original name is the Freedom Memorial. It was entirely paid for by thousands of formerly enslaved black people.
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Juneteenth or Freedom Day, is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery. It was on June 19, 1865 that Union soldiers, led by Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, landed in Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that all slaves were free. Seventy-five years later, Archer Alexander is the second…
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After a life of enslavement, on September 24th, 1863, Archer Alexander was free at last! Nine months earlier, the freedom seeker had made a run for freedom that had nearly cost him his life. In January, Archer was visiting his wife Louisa at Naylor’s Store, where she was enslaved, when he overheard his owner and…
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Over 600,000 heroic lives, both black and white, would be lost to bring this country to that moment. Today thousands will celebrate that moment now nationally recognized as Juneteenth.
ARCHER ALEXANDER 