He fought the city that tried to keep him in his place. For 32 years in Congress, Bill Clay Sr. turned back-room deals and street protests into laws that reshaped St. Louis and echoed across America. Unions, corporations, redlining, segregated diners—he faced them all. Now he’s gone, and the people who owe him everything barely kn…

Bill Clay Sr.’s story is the story of a city that refused to stay segregated in silence. From his first election at 28 to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, he understood that power had to be taken, not requested. He marched in sit-ins outside White Castle and Howard Johnson, then walked into union halls and corporate suites to demand that Black workers and neighborhoods be written into the future of St. Louis, not erased from it.

In Congress, he helped birth the Congressional Black Caucus and pushed through protections like the Family and Medical Leave Act and higher minimum wages, forcing the nation to see Black families, low‑wage workers, and the disenfranchised as fully human. Mayors, members of Congress, and civil rights leaders now speak of him as a mentor and architect of modern Black political power. His passing at 94 closes a chapter—but leaves a blueprint.