Kathleen Gamble was 5 years old when a group of protesters went down to Jefferson Bank and Trust Co. in St. Louis on Aug. 30, 1963, with a resounding demand: Hire more Black bank tellers.
The bank had been a staple for Black patrons in the nearby Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex and communities. It had employed Black workers, including two tellers, a custodian and a messenger.
“When they moved south [of Delmar] two blocks, somehow those two tellers were dismissed, laid off, fired, however you want to put it,” Gamble said. “That was the problem. That all of a sudden now we weren’t qualified. No Negro was qualified in the city of St. Louis, the president of the bank said.”
Gamble doesn’t have strong memories tied to the demonstrations, but she does remember one of the men who led the protests — future congressman William Lacy Clay Sr. In fact, his book “The Jefferson Bank Confrontation: The Struggle for Civil Rights in St. Louis” partially inspired her new play, “We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jefferson Bank Protest.”
“I got in contact with former congressman Bill Clay,” Gamble said. “I was geeking out because he was such a big hero when I was a little girl. I never thought I’d ever get to talk to him. He came to St. Louis, and I even interviewed him. He remembers everything. I mean, sharp as a tack.”
The Jefferson Bank Protests sparked changes that paved the way for St. Louis’ civil rights movement. Demands for other major corporations to hire more Black employees beyond custodial positions echoed throughout St. Louis.
Produced by A Call To Conscience — An Interactive Theatre For Social Change with artistic direction by Fannie Belle Lebby, the play sets the stage for how St. Louis was lagging behind as calls for racial equality grew nationally during the Civil Rights Movement. Gamble said the city had once been called a mecca for Black people by former St. Louis Mayor Raymond Tucker because it was relatively free of the racially motivated crimes that plagued other cities. It’s something Gamble remembers well.
“There were stores we still couldn’t change clothes in when we wanted to go shopping,” Gamble said. “We couldn’t go to certain restaurants. There are a lot of things that might not have been openly said but [were] quietly understood.”
The protests were sparked after members of the St. Louis Congress [formerly Committee] of Racial Equality sent a letter to the bank demanding it hire four Black bank tellers at its new location, a request that was promptly denied. Instead, the bank hit CORE with a restraining order, which included the names of some CORE members in order to make examples of them.
But the group refused to back down. Protesters blocked the entrance to the bank and staged sit-ins filled with chants and freedom songs. Gamble was intentional about naming the play and including the song “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
“They would lay down on the ground or they sat inside the bank, and they weren’t going anyplace,” Gamble said. “They meant that. We will not be moved. We’re going to be like that tree by the water that has those deep roots. We’re not going anywhere. You may want to get rid of us, but we’re not going anywhere.”
The protests lasted seven months and resulted in a number of arrests and a slew of fines. By March 1964, the bank relented and hired four Black tellers.
The play also focuses on the complex dynamics of the Gordon family. The father, who is a pastor, does not want his wife and son involved in the protests. There’s an emotional scene when he sees them on TV protesting despite his pleas. In that vulnerable moment, the father reveals he’s hesitant to join the front lines after nearly losing his life in the Deep South arguing with a white grocery store clerk.
The fear of stepping out onto the front lines was not uncommon, Gamble said. At the time, pastors, and even the local chapter of the NAACP, were not in favor of the demonstrations.
“I’m a minister myself,” Gamble said. “I can kind of put myself in a position of, ‘I have to protect my church, I have to protect my people, but I want to do what’s right.’ So I wanted to show the arc in his character of becoming fearful to becoming brave.”
It’s been 61 years since the protests, and each year, a mixed group of original protesters and new people wants to join in to commemorate the anniversary of change. This year was bittersweet.
“I found out just this year that this is their last year they’re going to have this commemorative ceremony,” Gamble said. “That’s ending, maybe the play will keep people thinking about it.”
“We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jefferson Bank Protest” will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday at Pilgrim Congregational Church in St. Louis. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door.
