Veiled Prophet Parade

The Veiled Prophet Parade and Ball was a yearly civic celebration in St. Louis, Missouri, over which a mythical figure called the ''Veiled Prophet'' presided. The first events were in 1878.

Overview

The parade and ball were organized and funded by the Veiled Prophet Organization, an all-male, secret society founded in 1878 by prominent St. Louisans.

The organization chooses one member to be a ''Veiled Prophet'' who conducts meetings and oversees activities but not necessarily for one year, spokesman Allyn Glaub said in 1991. They were a highly select group culled from the area's business, civic and governmental leaders, "the people who run St. Louis and St. Louis County." At that time the organization was racially mixed.

Historian Thomas Spencer believes that the event generally revealed rather than soothed class conflicts.Spencer, pp. 45–46 Spencer wrote that the VP parade was created in part to displace the parades regularly held by the trade unions. Spencer believed it cast workingmen in a passive rather than active role, not merely in the celebration, but in the mythology asserted for the history and economic life of the city. Occasionally the unions would stage events intended to mock the pretensions of the VP Ball. The leading socialist and working-class newspaper, ''St. Louis Labor'', "wrote negatively" about the VP event and its organizers between the early 1900s and 1930.

The ball, which most recently took place on the Friday before Christmas each year, was attended by thousands, but was protested by Black Lives Matter supporters, as well as the St. Louis-based group Missourians Organized for Reform and Empowerment, which linked St. Louis's wealthiest one percent to the VP organization.

In 1995, the name of the riverfront celebration was changed to ''Fair Saint Louis'', though the street procession was still called ''Veiled Prophet Parade''. The date was fixed for Independence Day. It continued to be funded by the Veiled Prophet Organization.

In 2003, the organization created a Community Service Initiative, through which members participate in a wide variety of projects in and around the city of St. Louis. In 2016, it secured a trademark for the name America's Birthday Parade.Valerie Schremp Hahn, "VP Parade Known as 'America's Birthday Parade' in More Homes Nationwide," ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch,'' June 29, 2017
/ref> In 2021, The "Veiled Prophet Parade" was replaced by the "American Birthday Parade" as to assuage concerns that the pageant was "a symbol of wealth, power, and to some racism."

Integration timeline

1930s-1940s

Before World War II, the African-American community in St. Louis crowned its own "Veiled Prophet Queen," who included Ernestine Steele in 1939 and Blanche Vashon (later Sinkler), Georgia Williams, and Evelyn Hilliard. A 1940 newspaper column said that for years the official VP Parade had drawn

many persons, white and colored, to the city . . . nd thatYears ago there was a dance for the colored citizenry on that night, but that affair was long discontinued. Five years ago, Mrs. Zenobia Shoulders Johnson, one of the city's most active church and civic workers, conceived the idea of a style show which would culminate in the crowning of the "Veiled Prophet's Queen," someone representative of real St. Louis culture and society, much in the same manner of the original event. The idea caught fire, and from the first night, overflow crowds have witnessed the event at St. James A.M.E. ] Church. And, in addition, the idea became so popular that this year there are fully half a dozen similar projects as conceived by Mrs. Johnson being held this week by various other racial groups."Covering St. Louis," ''The Pittsburgh Courier,'' October 12, 1940, image 23
/ref>

Postwar opposition

Walter W. Witte, rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, set forth the first widely circulated postwar opposition to the VP ball in a letter printed in the ''Post-Dispatch'' on September 30, 1966. He wrote:

. . . I recall my fascination some 10 years ago when I was told that St. Louis had a Veiled Prophet Parade. I was new to the city then and I presumed that this gala event must be some climactic community celebration, perhaps historical in nature. Then to discover that this was the yearly feast of the rich, culminating in a "coming out" ball at the municipal auditorium . . . was indeed a disappointment. Since then disappointment has given place to disgust. The spectacle of the wealthy daring to parade through the neighborhoods or near neighborhoods of the poor is outrageous.

And the ritual. Is it merely "cute," or are we witnessing the honest to God cult of the affluent with its prophets, queens, attending angels, heavenly courts taken seriously and paid for dearly by the educated business and professional men of the community? . . . .

Could it be turned into a genuine community event? I have an idea. If the powers would contact me, I have several outstandingly beautiful candidates in my parish for the Queen of Love and Beauty. Mind you, these candidates are not Mary Institute graduates nor are they currently attending Wellesley, Smith, or Vassar, nor are they likely to be. But they would, indeed, add beauty. Then again they would probably be disqualified. They suffer from one serious limitation. They are black.

Protests mount

Protests against the VP Parade began in 1966 after police shot a black robbery suspect and Percy Green, head of the Action Council to Improve Opportunities for Negroes (ACTION) passed out leaflets urging that the annual VP parade be "stopped" in response to the killing, calling it "the personification of St. Louis racism and white supremacy."

The next year, ACTION scheduled a "City Dwellers Week" to coincide with Veiled Prophet activities. It was code named ''Target 84,'' a reference to the Prophet's 84th visit. The aim was to force an end to the VP, which William L. Matheus said was "a symbol of racial and economic oppression."

On September 30, 1967, ACTION sponsored a "Black Veiled Prophet Ball" in parody of the VP Ball, the latter which was said to be fostering "racial discrimination and segregation.""Black Veiled Prophet Crowns Queen at Ball," ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch,'' October 2, 1967, image 3
/ref> The group planned the selection of a Queen of Human Justice, who would be chosen according to the number of tickets sold on her behalf.

On October 1, 1967, a "small group of marchers," led by Patrick Dougherty, a St. Louis University professor, contended in the suburb of Clayton, Missouri, that the VP Ball and Parade were "offensive to the Negro community" and should be transformed into a children's event.

The next weekend, some fifty demonstrators were in a sidewalk protest across the street from the VP Ball in Kiel Auditorium. Leaders, who had no tickets, demanded entry to the hall, and on October 6 three of them were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace and failure to obey the commands of a police officer; they were released on bond. They were Precious Barnes, in regalia as the "Black Veiled Prophet," Esther Davis, who was the Queen of Human Justice, and Witte.Timothy Bleck, "Clergymen in Difference With Bishop Cadigan Are Committed to Struggle of Urban Poor," ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch,'' October 15, 1967, image 3
/ref>
Journalists said the newspeople were shoved and jostled by police and that some officers held hats and hands in front of cameras to prevent photos. Ron Gould, an 18-year-old seminary student, said he took a photo of a policeman beating a black woman, and another officer smashed his camera with a baton, then stepped on the exposed film. He later filed a complaint against the police department, which ruled he had no case. (Charges against Barnes, Davis, and Witte were dropped on January 23, 1968, because of insufficient evidence.)

The next day, Barbara Torrence, Ruth Poland, and Mary Ann Kerstetter were arrested for lying in the street in front of the Veiled Prophet Parade in protest of alleged racial discrimination. They were sentenced to thirty days in jail for resisting arrest but were placed on probation for a year.

In October 1967 Bishop George L. Cadigan asked Witte and William Matheus, St. Stephens Church curator, to resign their positions because of "misunderstandings about procedural matters and the seeming inability of Mr. Witte to relate to the program of the diocese." The activities of the two in demonstrations, particularly against the Veiled Prophet Ball, had "incurred the wrath of many Episcopal laymen," a newspaper report said.

Witte said he and Matheus regarded the annual VP ceremonies as symbols of social bigotry and economic discrimination. Cadigan responded that he "holds no brief for the Veiled Prophet Ball and Parade, and it may well be a serious affront to the nonaffluent members of the St. Louis community," but, he said, the two clergymen "vastly overrated" the VP's significance, devoting "great energy, but little skill, in attacking it."

Count Basie cancellation

In 1968, ACTION threatened to stage protests against musician Count Basie unless he canceled an agreement to play in the VP Parade, whose theme that year was "Music for Everyone." Basie agreed on September 25 to withdraw, "for personal reasons."

Changing parade route

In 1968, United Press International reported that "ACTION has staged demonstrations at the ball and parade in recent years to protest that the ball was for whites only and that the parade flaunted white wealth down a route that skirted Negro neighborhoods. The route of this year's parade has been shifted to avoid some of the poorer neighborhoods."

More arrests

Percy Green, William Brown, and William Mitchell were arrested on September 27, 1968, when they were denied entry to the ball. They ignored orders to stop marching directly in front of Kiel Auditorium. Sarah Jones and Barbara Jean Saper were arrested and fined after they chained themselves to one of the floats.

In 1969 Carl Jackson (that year's Black Veiled Prophet), Madame Carol (the Black VP queen), Lois Greer (Queen of Human Justice) and George Johnson were arrested after Jackson and Carol presented a slip of blue paper at the Kiel Auditorium door which they said was an invitation and refused to leave. Judge G. Johnson, Sharon Hall, and Rita Scott were arrested in 1970 when they tried to enter the VP Ball by presenting a written statement in lieu of tickets.

Percy Green, Melvin Carr, Florence Jarrett, Ralph Brown, and Gina Scott were arrested on December 22, 1971, on a charge of general peace disturbance when they attempted to enter Kiel Auditorium with no tickets.

Episcopal resolution

A convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri in October 1969 adopted a resolution stating that "Actions of the Veiled Prophet Society are such to be a source of constant irritation to the black communities" in the diocese.

Unmasking the Prophet

On December 23, 1972, six women with tickets provided by debutantes and two of them, white women Gena Scott and Jane Sauer, walked together into Kiel Auditorium, with no problem. Then Charles Reed, that year's Black Veiled Prophet went to the entrance with Beverly Crosby and Florence Jarrett, presented the gatekeeper with three tickets and a statement demanding entrance. They were denied entry because they were not "dressed properly." Refusing to leave, they were arrested and taken to a police station.Gary Ronberg, "How They Unveiled the Prophet," ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch,'' December 31, 1972, image 54
/ref>

Sauer and Scott took balcony seats on opposite sides of the house. During the program, Sauer began dropping leaflets into the audience, then "threw the rest of the leaflets over the railing" as two men converged on her and began to pull her away.

Meanwhile, Scott was rappelling on a rope from a balcony when she tumbled hard to the floor, climbed to her feet, rushed to the stage, grabbed the crown and veil and yanked it from that year's VP. The ''Post-Dispatch'' reported that "the Veiled Prophet, whom everybody could see was bald, and very angry, struggled gallantly to restore the veil and its 95-year-old tradition f anonymityto its proper place." The VP was later to be revealed as Monsanto executive Tom K. Smith Jr."The Wednesday Inquirer," ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch,'' September 25, 1991, image 114
/ref>

Scott said: "The chairman of the VP committee, Alexander Cornwell Jr., had wanted to press charges, but when he was informed that the Veiled Prophet would have to appear in open court to do so, the whole matter was dropped." Scott's ribs were diagnosed as bruised and possibly broken.

Aftermath and changes

In early 1973, Gena Scott was awakened when her car was bombed outside of her apartment. Her apartment was vandalized numerous times.Spencer (2000), pp. 134–36
In 1975, ACTION member Patrick Dougherty unfurled a banner on stage reading "ACTION Protests Racist VP," and in 1976, two ACTION members sprayed what Green called "commercial tear gas"Spencer (2000), pp. 138–39 at VP audience members along the stage.

In November 1973, a class-action suit was filed on behalf of all black St. Louisans by Percy Green, George (Judge) Johnson and Melvin Carr, claiming the VP organization's rental agreement for Kiel was illegal and that blacks viewed the VP Committee as an "antiblack, semisecret organization made up of members of the economic, political and social white power structure" of St. Louis.

The parade was first telecast over station KSD in 1977.

In 1979 the Veiled Prophet Organization admitted its first black members, three physicians.

In 1987, fair officials and St. Louis Metro Police Department were confronted with accusations of racism when they closed the Eads Bridge to pedestrian access, which reduced the ability of attendees from East St. Louis to reach the VP fair, where predominantly black residents were blamed for the crime that had been occurring there. Judge John F. Nangle ordered the bridge to reopen, saying that there was no proof that the crime was caused by East St. Louisans.Spencer, 2000, p. 148.

Some thirty people protesting police shootings in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere in 2014 marched and chanted outside the Hyatt Hotel, St. Louis, where the ball was taking place.

Founding of the Veiled Prophets

The VP organization was founded by prominent St. Louisans who had been invited to a meeting in a letter signed by John B. Maude, John A. Scudder, George Bain, John G. Priest, and D.P. Rowland."The Exposition Opening: Plans Under Consideration for an Imposing Pageant," ''St. Louis Times,'' March 22, 1878, cited in Spencer, page 173

The organization had its roots in the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Fair, an annual harvest festival since 1856.
Featuring agricultural crops, crafts, and demonstrations, it attracted people from throughout the region. Spencer wrote that city boosters devised the Veiled Prophet Fair in an attempt to reclaim from the rapidly growing city of Chicago the fading pre-eminence for St. Louis as a manufacturing center and agricultural shipping point.

On March 20, 1878, Charles Slayback, a grain broker who had spent several Reconstruction years in New Orleans

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