This weekend the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation will raise money for its efforts at reconciliation and commemoration with a dinner that attempts to offer both.
The foundation will host “Dred Scott and Traces of the Trade Dinner Soiree and Dance” on Saturday, July 24 at the Hilton at the Ballpark Hotel.
The evening starts early with a reception at 5:30 and continues late with dancing to jazz music, after a formal and serious presentation.
Harold Fields, a facilitator for racial dialogue, and Holly Fulton, a descendant of slave traders, will speak on America’s slave past and how Americans can address those issues in the 21st century.
Both Fields and Fulton participated in the making of The Traces of the Trade: a Story from the Deep North, a documentary about a family that found out their ancestors were slave traders in the U.S.
“People need to know this and hear this,” said Lynne Jackson, founder of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation.
Jackson is the great-great granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott, who waged the most important legal battle against slavery in American history, with pivotal rulings issued here in St. Louis at the Old Courthouse.
Jackson started the foundation to educate people about her great-great-grandparents and how they fought for their freedom.
“It was a sad chapter in history,” Jackson said.
A major goal for the foundation is to erect statues of Dred and Harriet Scott in St. Louis.
The foundation has succeeded in naming a street in the city after Dred Scott and erecting a memorial stone for Harriet Scott at her grave in Greenwood Cemetery.
It also produced a year of events to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Dred Scott Decision in 2007.
It also is starting a series called Sons and Daughters of Reconciliation focusing on descendants educating and healing through confronting history.
Though funds are needed for the foundation’s projects, Jackson wants people to come to the dinner to learn and consider efforts at reconciliation.
“Dred and Harriet are truly heroes of American history and yet they’re unsung heroes. A lot of people in St. Louis don’t know their story,” Jackson said.
The reception will start at 5:30 p.m. and the dinner at 6:15 p.m. For more information on purchasing tickets for the dinner and about The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, visit thedredscottfoundation.org.
