The gateway arch is one of St. Louis's crowning architectural achievements, but it has a horrific historic past.

Here's the little known history behind one of the

nation's most recognizable landmarks. This is two minute black history. What you

didn't learn in school. St. Louis is often called the Gateway to the West. The Gateway Arch doubles down on this expression

of westward expansion as the federal government originally erected it in the early 1960s to commemorate President

Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and the genocide of Native Americans.

But that's only the beginning of the history of the famous landmark.

The gateway was built on Mill Creek Valley, a black neighborhood to clear land for construction, more than 20,000 residents, 95% of whom were black, were displaced.

Further, nearly 300 black businesses were destroyed. The Black people of St. Louis refused to be displaced from their homes.

Protest of both the gateway's construction and the lack of black contractors assigned to the project erupted in 1964.

Black residents fought relentlessly.

James Baldwin said it best, Urban renewal means Negro removal of the 120 billion dollars worth of new government subsidized housing between 1934 and 1962, less than 2% went to non-white families.

Ultimately, the city of St. Louis took black people's land and raised a symbol of hate on it. The Black community in St Louis didn't submit to the gateway's construction.

They protested and fought back even though the odds were stacked against them.

Liberation won't be easily won, but no matter what, we must use our voices to speak out and make our stories

known. In order to move towards the future, you've got to look to the path.

This has been two minute black history, a podcast by Push Black.

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Together, let's celebrate and honor the legacy of black history. You're here.