Ep 3.52: Marches, Movements, and Monsignor Shockley

In this powerful chapter of St. Louis’ civil‑rights story, we follow Monsignor John Shockley beyond the walls of St. Bridget’s and into the heart of the national struggle for justice. As director of the Archdiocesan Human Rights Office, Shockley helped organize one of the largest civil‑rights marches in St. Louis history—30,000 people gathered at the Old Courthouse just days after President Kennedy’s assassination. From there, the narrative widens to the Selma marches of 1965, where St. Louis sent five chartered planes and nineteen busloads of clergy, sisters, and laypeople. Their courage, their presence, and their quiet authority—especially the sisters—left a lasting impression on the movement. Alongside Shockley, we meet the fiery activist Ivory Perry, whose bold, disruptive protests forced St. Louis to confront injustice head‑on. Through marches, sit‑ins, and moral witness, this episode reveals how St. Louis Catholics helped shape a civil‑rights landscape that—remarkably—avoided the riots that scarred so many other American cities.