In the early 19th century, St. Louis was a booming economic center valued for its location on the Mississippi River and its successful business relationships with the local natives. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers from the east flooded the city, hoping to share in its growing wealth. Many of these settlers and military personnel brought people who they had enslaved with them.
Missouri officially became a slave state in 1821, but an 1824 statute declared that any enslaved person brought into any free state or territory would be released from their enslavers. The statute gave a solid legal stance for many enslaved people to fight for their freedom in court.
Over the course of 60 years, more than 300 civil court cases were filed in St. Louis in pursuit of freedom. Since enslavement status was passed through maternal lineage, many of the court cases were filed by women to free not only themselves but also their children. Here are just a few of their stories.
Marie, Celeste, Catchie and Marguerite Scypion
In 1805, the brave women of the Scypion family were the very first to begin their legal freedom struggles, standing up against some of the most powerful white men in St. Louis. Marie Scypion was a Black and Natchez woman who had been enslaved when St. Louis was under French control.
When St. Louis was transferred from French to Spanish control, the breaking up of enslaved families and the enslavement of native people were outlawed. Upon these grounds, Marie was able to keep her family together when her enslaver, Joseph Tayon, tried to sell her daughters.
However, after Marie’s death, the Missouri territory was purchased by the US, and Joseph Tayon tried once again to break up the Scypion family. This time, Marie’s daughters were prepared. Celeste and Catiche filed a joint freedom suit with the help of Joseph Tayon’s own daughters. Marguerite filed her own freedom suit soon after.
All three sisters won their suits, but their legal struggles had only just begun. Over the course of 30 years, the sisters battled court case after court case to maintain their status as free women. At long last, a jury voted unanimously in 1834 that the Scypion sisters were free women in the eyes of the law.Â
Harriet Robinson Scott
Harriet Robinson Scott fought to free herself and her children alongside her husband, Dred Scott, in the famous supreme court case Scott vs Sandford. Harriet and Dred fell in love and married in 1836 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. After being relocated to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Harriet made friends within the free black community and was soon introduced to her future lawyer, Francis Murdoch.
The Scott’s legal battle began in 1846 after the death of their enslaver, Dr. John Emerson. Even though Dr. Emerson made no mention of Harriet or her husband in his will, their ownership was claimed by his widow, Irene Emerson. Harriet filed her freedom suit on the grounds that she had lived in the free state of Minnesota for nearly six years.
The court case ended up in the hands of the US Supreme Court after Irene transferred the Scotts’ ownership to her brother, John F. A. Sanford. The court’s decision against the Scotts widely shocked the public and is often considered one of the catalysts for the Civil War.
Even though they lost their court battle, Harriet and her family were freed almost immediately after the case ended. Harriet lived out her days as a free woman in her own home with her loved ones around her.
Polly Wash
Polly Wash was a devoted mother whose life and fight for freedom was recorded by her daughter, Lucy Ann Delaney, in the memoir, From the Darkness Cometh the Light. Even though Polly loved her daughters wholeheartedly, she wanted them to be free women and told them to run if they ever got a chance to escape.
When she got word that her daughter Nancy escaped to Canada, Polly danced and sang throughout the night. Polly attempted to make her own escape to Canada, making it as far as Chicago, but returned out of concern for the safety of her other daughter, Lucy. She resolved to win her freedom through court and filed a freedom suit in 1839.
Polly filed her case on the grounds that she had lived in the free state of Illinois for several months, making her a free woman in the eyes of the law. Lucy filed her own freedom suit and by 1844, both mother and daughter won their lawful freedom. They lived together until Polly’s death.
