Marian O'Fallon Oldham (1927-1994) and Charles Richard Oldham (1922-2006) were among the most prominent St. Louis activists of the modern civil rights era. The Oldhams were key members of the St. Louis Committee of Racial Equality (CORE). Charles served as chairman of national CORE from 1956 to 1963. The Oldhams were both also involved in many civic activities.

Marian Oldham was born to James W. O'Fallon (1901-1968) and Valetta Hairston O'Fallon (1903-1977) on March 31, 1927, in St. Louis. She grew up in the Ville neighborhood, where she attended Simmons Elementary School and graduated from Sumner High School in 1943. Marian earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education at Stowe Teachers College and a master's degree in education at the University of Michigan. Due to segregation, she was not allowed to enter graduate school in Missouri. The State of Missouri paid her tuition and expenses to attend the University of Michigan. In August 1951, Marian married Charles Oldham, whom she had met through St. Louis CORE. Missouri's law banning interracial marriages forced the couple to marry outside St. Louis in Detroit, Michigan. Marian worked as a teacher for the St. Louis Board of Education from 1948 to 1967 before she switched careers to become a real estate broker.

Charles Oldham was born to Henry Conway Oldham (1895-1929) and Eva Myrl (Walter) Oldham (1897-1963) on November 7, 1922. He had an older brother, George Henry (1921-1958,) and a younger sister, Jo Anne Campbell (1926-1950). Henry Oldham died in an airplane accident in 1929, after which Myrl Oldham moved with her three children to Marceline, Missouri. Charles was valedictorian of his Marceline High School class in 1940. He attended Central Methodist College (1940-1942) and the University of Missouri-Columbia (fall 1942) before enlisting in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which sent him to the Army Specialized Training Program at the University of Chicago for nine months. In 1943, the Army transferred Charles to the Army Air Force, where he flew on 58 combat missions as a B-24 gunner with the 403rd Squadron of the 43rd Bombardment Group ("Ken's Men") in the Pacific Theatre. Charles was awarded three bronze stars, a good conduct medal, and an air medal with oak leaf cluster. After the war, he attended Washington University Law School and passed the Missouri Bar Exam to practice law in 1947.

Both Oldhams were CORE leaders in the most contentious civil rights demonstration in St. Louis history, the 1963 Jefferson Bank protest. They were among the first group of leaders arrested, jailed, and heavily fined. The Jefferson Bank protests are routinely described as a turning point in local civil rights history with far-reaching consequences for race relations in St. Louis.

In addition to their civil rights activism, the Oldhams were known for their volunteerism and civic engagement, generally serving on numerous boards. They were active members and leaders of the St. Louis branch of the NAACP. In 1977, Governor Joseph Teasdale appointed Marian Oldham to the Board of Curators for the University of Missouri System, making her the first African American woman to hold the position. With the help of her friends and contacts, Marian established an endowed scholarship for African American students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1990. Posthumously, two more University of Missouri scholarships were established in her memory, the Black Culture Center on the Columbia campus was named in her honor (along with Lloyd Gaines), and a bust of her graces the St. Louis campus's Thomas Jefferson Library. The United States Post Office on Laclede Avenue in St. Louis was renamed in her honor in November 1994.

The couple adopted two children: John and Lisa Oldham. In March 1994, Marian Oldham died at age 66. Charles Oldham died in November 2006. The Oldhams both donated their bodies for research to Washington University.