Jeanette Forchet’s St. Louis: She Owned the Ground First
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Jeanette Forchet’s St. Louis: She Owned the Ground First
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About this listen
Before the Arch: Jeanette Forchet’s St. Louis tells the story of a Black woman most people were never taught to remember. Born into slavery around 1736, Jeanette Forchet became one of the earliest Black landowners in St. Louis — decades before Missouri became a state, and long before the Gateway Arch ever existed. She farmed, ran a laundry business, raised a family, signed property agreements, and built a life on land that now lies within Gateway Arch National Park.
In this episode of That Doesn’t Make Sense, Michael Porter traces Jeanette’s journey from bondage to ownership and asks the question that should stop every listener cold: How does a woman help build the foundation of a city and still get written out of its public memory? This is an episode about Black ownership, Black survival, erasure, and the histories buried underneath the landmarks America celebrates most.