Penn School

Interview with former Steptoe resident Beverly Avery Hill. Hill discusses her family moving to Kansas City in the early 1930s, attending the segregated Penn School, attending St. James Baptist Church, and social life and business within and outside of the neighborhood. She also discusses meeting her husband, attending college, and becoming a teacher in the Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri school distrusts, and shares memories of playing in city parks and other memories of her family and the neighborhood. 

Interview with educator and community leader Dr. Jeremiah Cameron. Cameron discusses his early life, attending school with Charlie Parker and other notable classmates, his experience as a student and educator at Lincoln High School, earning his bachelors degree at Indiana University and graduate degrees at the University of Chicago and Michigan State University, serving in the Air Force, and experiences of racism and segregation in those settings. He also shares opinions on the state of Kansas City schools and colleges, past and present, Black arts and literature, and discusses his experience as the public relations director of the local NAACP.

Interview with Leah Russell, former resident of the Steptoe neighborhood. She discusses her family's history and their roots in the Steptoe/Westport area from the late 1800s, the families and places in the community, the social life she shared with neighborhood kids, and the role of the local churches, schools, and St. Luke's Hospital in the area.  She also discusses her education and career, leaving Kansas City for other opportunities, 

Interview with former Penn School teacher Mai Gray. She recalls her early life and education in Tennessee, attending college and meeting her husband in Atlanta, Georgia, and moving to Kansas City with him as he became pastor of Centennial Methodist Church. She discusses his work there in the 1960s and '70s, her teaching career which began at Penn School, and the Steptoe community surrounding Penn. 

Interview with Mark Turner about his and his family's history in Westport. Turner discusses recreation in Swope Park, Fairyland Park, and Mill Creek Park, his experience of segregation at local businesses, finding ways to make money as a kid, and attending an integrated school with primarily white teachers after Brown vs. Board of Education. He also shares memories of St. Luke's Hospital, including its segregation policy in his early life, neighbors working in the laundry, and their chaplain helping the community after a fire at St. James Church. Turner also discusses his experience in higher education as a professor with Metropolitan Community Colleges, and his view of the different expectations of and skillsets taught to white and Black students. 

Interview with Mary Louise Hinton, resident of the Steptoe neighborhood. Hinton discusses her family and early life in Deer River, Minnesota, moving to Kansas City, briefly attending Penn School, relationships with neighbors and involvement in the church, getting married to her husband Carl in 1938, and having two children. She also discusses attending and later working at Lincoln High School, having to take public transit to get to a school that was much further away than Westport High School due to segregation, and making a deal with St. Luke's Hospital in which she could maintain lifetime occupancy in her home while receiving an annuity. She also shares memories of social clubs and writing letters to the Kansas City Star.

Interview with former Steptoe resident Mary Stone. Stone shares memories of growing up in the Steptoe area of Westport, attending Penn School and St. Luke's AME Church, her friends and neighbors, and recreation opportunities in other parts of the city. She also discusses her parents' jobs, including her mother's work supervising staff at the Riviera Apartments, changes in Westport due to demographic shifts and St. Luke's Hospital expansion projects, and holding Westport reunions with friends and former neighbors at Loose Park. 

Interview with Joe Avery, former resident of the Steptoe neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri. Avery discusses his childhood and family history, including growing up at the corner of 43rd Terrance & Washington, attending Penn School, his father's work at Manor Bakery, the Steptoe community and St. James Baptist Church, recreational options in the rest of the city, and encountering segregation. He also discusses living in Flint, Michigan and working in the automotive industry before moving back to Kansas City, and shares memories of St. Luke's Hospital. 

Interview with William Shelby about the history of Westport and the Steptoe neighborhood. Shelby discusses his family's history in Westport dating back to 1870, their founding of the St. James Baptist Church, and his father's work as an educator at Penn and other schools, as well as his personal history growing up near 27th & Tracy, family, and work.  He also discusses St. Luke's Hospital's expansion and relationship with the neighborhood.