A Historic Look at Black Labor in St. Louis Seen through the Eyes of Artist Spencer T. Banks (1912-1983)

In honor of Black History Month, SHSMO has prepared a special art exhibition at Ellis Library that explores the work by painter and graphic designer Spencer T. Banks, through artwork and photography he produced for African American businesses in St. Louis. Included in the exhibit is Banks’s serial comic strip Pokenia, which ran in the St. Louis Argus from 1939-40. The comic centered around the adventures of a Black female office worker and her conflicts with an office thief and a criminal gang.

The exhibit is open to the public during regular visitor hours at Ellis Library.