More Than a Parade: Annie Malone May Day 2015

What’s undoubtably one of the most storied traditions among the African American community in St. Louis, The 94th annual Annie Malone Mayday parade was more than just your typical parade down Market St. this year, it was a display of black culture, talent, art and excellence. 

The Annie Malone Children and Family Services Center has been a long standing staple in the community for over 100 years that offers various community programs and services that include Crisis Care and Emergency Residental Placement, Parenting Education and most notably, the Transition Living Program, geared to helping youth that age out of the foster care system to be self-sufficient, determine career plans and developing life skills for independant living. 

Organized in 1888, the “St. Louis Colored Orphans Home” was founded by a group of women to address the issue of how orphans of color were treated in St. Louis and was renamed Annie Malone Children’s Home in 1946 after philathropist, Annie Malone assumed the role as Board Chairman in 1919 and donated $10,000 of her own money to further cultivate the successes of the home for colored children. Malone served in that role until 1943 and along with her volunteer efforts, warranted the home and foundation be named in her honor. 

Now in 2015, the community needs programs and services such as Annie Malone now more than ever. In addition to rampid unemployment, social inequalities, and poverty, the community needs an overall morale boosts. You can always find that boosts in a few hours every May when the foundation hosts its annual May Day Parade, which also acts a fundraiser to decrease homelessness and prevent child abuse and neglect. 

For me, this year was different. I’ve walked in this parade in high school as a part of a youth guide right program, but this was my first year to really see it as a photojournalist and show how beautiful of an event this truly is. After covering the events of Ferguson, I really saw first hand how the media can spin stories and affect public perception of a community thus brewing negative stereotypes. Though there are “bad apples” just as there is with all colors and creeds of people, that doesn’t reflect the image of all the people. On this beautiful day, there was a full display of beautiful black talent, potential, families, smiles and positive vibes. Sure this isn’t the answer to all the communities problems, but just for a few hours under the mild St. Louis sun, you saw everything you could and should wish for from our youth and community. Boy, was it a sight to see…