Rev. John Berry Meachum | |
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| Born | May 3, 1789 |
| Died | February 26, 1854 (aged 64) |
| Burial place | Bellefontaine Cemetery |
| Occupation(s) | Minister, educator, Underground Railroad conductor |
| Known for | Floating Freedom School |
| Spouse | Mary Meachum |
| Religion | Baptist |
| Ordained | 1825 |
| Writings | An Address to All of the Colored Citizens of the United States |
Congregations served | First African Baptist Church, now named First Baptist Church City of St. Louis |
John Berry Meachum (May 3, 1789 – February 26, 1854) was an American pastor, businessman, educator and founder of the First African Baptist Church in St. Louis, the oldest black church west of the Mississippi River. At a time when it was illegal in the city to teach people of color to read and write, Meachum operated a school in the church's basement. Meachum also circumvented a Missouri state law banning education for black people by creating the Floating Freedom School on a steamboat on the Mississippi River.
As a young man, he guided 75 enslaved people from Kentucky to their freedom in Indiana, a free state. Once established in Missouri, he and his wife Mary Meachum were conductors on the Underground Railroad. They also purchased enslaved people and took them into their home until they earned enough money to repay their purchase price. The Meachums employed the enslaved people that they purchased and emancipated them when they had saved enough to repay their purchase price. In the meantime, they were also educated and learned skills to be self-sufficient once freed. John and Mary also helped runaway enslaved people across the Mississippi and into Illinois along the Underground Railroad. The Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing in St. Louis, the first site in Missouri to be accepted in the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, was named after Mary.
In 1846, Meachum spoke at the National Negro Convention in Philadelphia and published the pamphlet An Address to All of the Colored Citizens of the United States, which stressed the importance of education and self-respect.