A friend called Tuesday evening, when most eyes in town were focused on Busch Stadium, site of the 2009 Major League All-Star Game.
She wanted to know if she is crazy.
What had her concerned was her response to a choice of symbol for St. Louis made by Major League Baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals organization, which owns and operates the stadium – though with the help of millions of dollars of start-up public financing.
The Cardinals grounds crew had cut into the stadium turf silhouettes of the Gateway Arch and the Old Courthouse.
“Didn’t they used to sell slaves on the steps of that courthouse?” the friend wanted to know.
That is true. Though not a slave market per se, the Old Courthouse became one temporarily whenever an estate was settled that included slaves in the list of properties.
To take one example among thousands, on January 1, 1861, “a negro man, (slave for life), named JIM” was sold “at the east front door of the Court House, in the city of St. Louis” by the legal guardian for two heirs of a slaveholder named Thomas Sappington, who had died.
A pro-slavery local daily named the Saint Louis Daily Republican listed the slave auction, which had been authorized in probate court by a judge, as a cash sale to the “highest bidder.”
This friend was upset to see what she takes to be a symbol of chattel slavery presented to the nation and the world as a symbol of St. Louis.
She also was upset that she was upset.
“Am I crazy?” she wanted to know. “Am I becoming like my paranoid uncle, seeing conspiracies against African Americans everywhere?”
‘Legacy of pain’
Former alderwoman and mayoral candidate Irene J. Smith doubted that there was a conspiracy against African Americans at work in this decision. She considered it a familiar icon of St. Louis’ rich architectural heritage.
“Though I consider it a poor choice, given the legacy of pain those courthouse steps represent for many families,” Smith said of the symbol.
State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed agreed.
“Why would they choose something that symbolizes slavery and the destruction of families, something we are still trying to fight our way back from?” Nasheed said.
Smith thought it was odd to choose such a locally polarizing symbol that would be meaningless for much of the national television audience.
Smith said, “To someone from out of town, it probably just looked like some old building. To us in St. Louis, we think of slavery and Dred Scott.”
Dred and Harriet Scott sued for their freedom from slavery, and two trials were heard at the Old Courthouse in 1847 and 1850, respectively.
The appellate process would lead all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled against the Scotts, saying they were personal property and did not even have the right to a trial. This decision helped to precipitate the Civil War.
Smith also thought it was limiting that both of the symbols of St. Louis chosen for the game are located Downtown – indeed, a short distance from one another.
“That is typical of this administration – everything focused on Downtown,” Smith said, in reference to Mayor Francis G. Slay.
Despite some of the African-American community’s tendency to blame reflexively the city’s ills on the mayor, Slay did not choose the city symbols for the All-Star Game.
Rich Levine, senior vice president of public relations for MLB, said the league office made the decision “in concert” with the Cardinals administration.
Levine was asked to be more specific about who suggested the idea and who approved it. He had not called back with that information by press time.
On his campaign website, Slay gushed about how much he loves “to say
‘St. Louis’ to anyone who might not otherwise hear the name” and estimated that he would provide “50 local and national interviews” on the day of the game.
Mayoral spokesman Ed Rhode was asked if the mayor would provide one more local interview – to The St. Louis American, the state’s second-largest weekly newspaper – on Wednesday. The request was not granted.
‘Justice by jury’
The symbol became a subject of discussion in the Comments section of the website cardsdiaspora.com.
“Old Courthouse? Hell no, because it is a reminder of our nation’s cruel history of blacks (on the steps of the Old Courthouse) being sold into slavery,” a man named Travis posted.
“To make matters worst, our nation’s first black president will be throwing the first pitch out with this horrible image behind him for historical photos.”
A response from someone posting as “Fresh” showed little patience for the historical grievances of African Americans. Fresh wrote, “Great logic there, Travis. Maybe we should bulldoze it to since nothing else ever happened there aside from slave sales.”
Local attorney Albert Watkins – who is not black – said the reminder of slavery could be understood as a positive example of keeping it real.
“The Old Courthouse, now a federally protected and funded landmark, serves as a constant reminder that this city, like our country, was built in large part on the backs of slaves,” Watkins said.
“What better image for the shoes of our first African American President and scores of successful African-American athletes to trod?”
In fact, in his historic campaign appearance in St. Louis, shortly before his election as president, Obama chose the Arch grounds as the venue, in clear sight – for all photo ops – of the Old Courthouse.
Lynne Jackson, the great-great-granddaughter of the Scotts, who lives in St. Louis, understands why.
She said the Old Courthouse was a good choice of symbol, if it makes the public reflect back on the Dred Scott case.
She pointed out that in the 1850 trial at the Old Courthouse, a jury of 12 white men granted the Scotts their freedom from slavery. They lost on appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court, in a ruling that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, but if the Scotts’ legal struggles had ended in St. Louis, they would have been free.
“The courthouse also is a reminder of due process and justice by jury,” Jackson said.
“It’s more than just a symbol of our history. It also points to our future.”
