Dred Scott's great-great-granddaughter erects new Missouri monument to his legacy

Dred Scott, the enslaved man whose case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, is getting a new memorial monument. The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation is dedicating the monument in his honor on Saturday at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.
Dred Scott, an enslaved man who lost his bid for freedom, will be honored with a new memorial monument at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis on Saturday.

In 1846, Scott and his wife, Harriet, filed their freedom suits in St. Louis’ Old Courthouse. After 11 years of waiting, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down one of its most infamous decisions. The high court found that enslaved Black people were not U.S. citizens in upholding the institution of slavery ahead of the Civil War.

The Dred Scott decision is cemented in St. Louis and Missouri history. For years, his descendants have been working to preserve his name and legacy. His old modest headstone at Calvary Cemetery has been a place for tributes and reflection. But the headstone was easy to miss, said Lynne Jackson, Scott’s great-great-granddaughter. Now, it’s been replaced with a 9-foot-tall black granite monument.

“The front of it is reminiscent of a courthouse,” said Jackson. “That’s what my original thought was. The fact that he’s on the top means that he was able to rise above the law within his own heart and by the good help of those who helped him throughout the 11 years of his trial.”