In 1970, after starting as a KSDK news reporter, he was the first African American to anchor prime-time television news in St. Louis.
ST. LOUIS — The George B. Vashon Museum of African American History recently announced its grand opening of a permanent exhibit recognizing the life and achievements of longtime St. Louis broadcast and print journalist, Julius Hunter.
The “Julius Hunter Media Room” was dedicated on Saturday, June 3, 2023. The exhibit features a cardboard cutout of Hunter, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling artifacts, awards, framed photos, videos and other memorabilia highlighting Hunter’s remarkable broadcast, print and public service career that spanned four decades.
“We are so pleased and proud to honor Julius Hunter. He is St. Louis through and through” said Calvin Riley, founder of the museum. “His groundbreaking work on local television set the path for countless other Black journalists in town and across the country.”
Hunter began his career as a journalist at KSDK. In 1970, he made history by becoming the first African American to anchor primetime news in St. Louis. Hunter reported local, regional, and national news after moving to KMOV, (then KMOX).
He interviewed six U.S. incumbent Presidents, as well as countless politicians from around the country and locally. Hunter broadcast live from Rome in the late 70s on the deaths Paul VI and John Paul 1. Hunter even travelled with Pope John Paul II on three separate occasions.
The list of Hunter’s exclusive interviews reads like a “who’s who” of politics and entertainment-including luminary sit-downs with Pearl Bailey, Ted Kennedy, Julia Child, Jimmy Hoffa, Angie Dickinson, Oprah Winfrey, Cab Calloway, Sophia Loren, Chuck Berry and many more.
Hunter’s contributions to St. Louis have reached well beyond television. He writes a weekly St. Louis Post-Dispatch column and sometimes comments for this newspaper. He is also the author of 12 published books. Hunter also served on the Boards of the History Museum. The BackStoppers. Campbell House Museum. St. Louis Police Department.
Hunter said he’s been a long-time supporter of Riley and the museum. In addition to his efforts in gaining press coverage for Riley’s gallery, Hunter has been working on installing an elevator at the two-story mansion. He’s also working to help install an elevator to the two-story mansion which Hunter described as a “Yeoman’s” effort.
“The original elevator was installed in the 1890’s and we learned, a short time ago, that it is too ancient to be safe. It must be gutted and totally rebuilt,” the newsman explained.
Hunter held fundraisers in order to gain support and funds. Riley was introduced to prospective donors and philanthropists. Hunter also met with an architect, who successfully built an outside elevator connecting floors.
Hunter insisted that Riley was not being egotistical when he dedicated a permanent exhibition to his name.
“I agreed to have the room named after me only because I hope it will draw visitors to look at the massive, mammoth collection on the first floor,” Hunter said, adding: “And that seems to be working.”
This has been the George B. Vashon Museum’s “busiest year,” Riley noted, adding that about 60 Cahokia School District students would be visiting in a couple days.
Riley and his wife, Calra, started the museum about 10 years ago but the curator said he’s been collecting artifacts for more than 40 years.
On the first floor of this mansion that was once a burial parlor are still colorful stained glass mosaic windows. It contains thousands of objects that span 250 years of African American and local history.
The space dedicated to civil right contains KKK memorabilia as well as an original sign of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered in 1968.
The museum also has a room containing the original documents of the Dred-Scott case, and there are other areas dedicated to prominent local dignitaries, such as Senator J.B. Jet Banks; Dr. Lincoln Diuguid (a scientist and chemist); Spencer Thornton Banks (a commercial artist); and George Boyer Vashon, a pioneering lawyer, scholar, lawyer, and abolitionist.
The museum is located at 2223 St Louis Ave, in the heart of what was once the thriving St. Louis Place neighborhood. In 2014, St. Louis Magazine described the area as one of “stunning Italianate, Second Empire and Romanesque Revival mansions…” that “easily challenged the more famous South Side neighborhood for sheer beauty and preservation of its stately mansions.”
Even though the museum receives hundreds of tours, out-of-town guests and local visitors, it is still an unknown gem to many St. Louisans.
Hopefully, the installation of the new “Julius Hunter Media Room” will draw more visitors interested in the rich and diverse history of St. Louis and its many native personalities.