150th anniversary of historic legal decision
By Bill Beene
Of the St. Louis American
Happy 150th to the late Dred Scott – or, at least, to the historic legal decision that kept him and his wife Harriet in slavery but enshrined them in U.S. history.
Famously, Scott sued for his freedom when his owners took him from Missouri, a slave state at the time, to the free state of Illinois and thence to free territory in Wisconsin.
When Scott returned to Missouri, he found himself back in the shackles of abominable human slavery and decided to sue for his freedom. The case went to the Supreme Court of Missouri, Missouri Federal Circuit Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, a battle of appeals and reversals that lasted from 1846-57.
The embattled slave lost the decision, but the case is deemed one of many decisive factors leading up the Civil War and the eventual emancipation of African Americans.
St. Louis and Missouri held several events this week commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the decision, which ruled blacks (free or not) were not citizens and, consequently, couldn’t sue in court.
While several organizations, working with the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, are paying homage to Scott, one of the most interesting events was the National Black Tourism Network’s recreation of a slave escape route from Downtown St. Louis to the Mary Meachum site, 2.7 miles away.
The popular route was actually part of the infamous Underground Railroad. Its threshold to freedom at the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing to Illinois is named for the free Black St. Louisan who helped fleeing slaves.
On the early morning of May 21, 1855, nine slaves were sighted across the water (a narrow but still dangerous part of the Mississippi) by slave-keepers near the site.
Several of the slaves were caught, including three owned by Missouri Botanical Garden owner Henry Shaw.
It is unknown what happened to Meachum after being charged in criminal court. Ah, ha – see where the word “criminal” comes from.
In the early hours of last Friday morning the National Black Tourism Network arranged for eight people to escape two miles to freedom in the freezing cold.
Bloodhounds and a horseback posse of slave-traders gave chased while white abolitionists helped us along the way. Some of us were on foot while others hid in a secret compartment in a horse-pulled wagon.
As a re-enactment, it was well-done, but considering the modern assets, there’s still hard to put oneself into the shoes of slaves, like Scott, who sought their freedom.
Once slaves were able to make it to the Mary Meacham Freedom Crossing site, they still had to cross (usually at night) the mighty Mississippi in a small boat.
The slaves could not swim, and even if they could, the currents of the Mighty Mississippi often promised freedom only by death. But the institution of slavery was so heinous that slaves were willing to take that chance.
This same escape route will be open to the public in June. To take the trip, call the National Black Tourism Network at (314) 865-0708 or visit www.tourism-network.net. The Urban Slave Escape is sponsored by the Missouri Division of Tourism, Grace Hill Settlement and the National Park Service.
For more event sponsored by the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, please visit www.thedredscottfoundation.org.