First Statue In U.S. Honoring Dred Scott To Be Unveiled Friday At Old Courthouse In St. Louis

Statue Honors Leading African-American Figure At Center of One of Key Supreme Court Decisions in U.S. History; Slavery Ruling Contributed to Lincoln Presidential Run, Outbreak of Civil War.

ST. LOUIS, June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A life-sized statue of Dred and Harriet Scott will be unveiled Friday (June 8, 2012) at 3 p.m. CDT in front of the historic Old Courthouse here.

The unveiling of the life-sized statue on June 8th will be the first full statue ever dedicated to Dred Scott and his wife Harriet. As the great-great granddaughter of Dred Scott, Mrs. Lynne M. Jackson founded the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation in 2006, and she will participate in the unveiling of the statue as it is gifted to the American people through the National Parks Service. To date, the foundation has raised over $150,000 towards the statue's $250,000 dollar price tag.

Others participating in the unveiling ceremony will include:  descendants of Dred Scott; St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed; Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff; National Park Service Superintendent Thomas Bradley; and sculptor Harry Weber.

The Old Courthouse in St. Louis is where the Scotts petitioned in 1846 for their freedom from slavery, setting in motion the presidential candidacy of Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Civil War and three amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

BACKGROUND

Tax-deductible donations for the statue may be made via Paypal through The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation at http://www.thedredscottfoundation.org/. Or, contributions made out to The Dred Scott Statue Fund may be mailed directly to: The Dred Scott  Heritage Foundation,  P. O. Box 2009. Florissant, MO 63032-2009.

According to the online Dred Scott history exhibit at Washington University in St. Louis: "St. Louis' Old Courthouse was the site of one of the most important events in American history. Dred Scott, a slave aged some 50 years, and his wife Harriet, petitioned for their freedom in 1846. The Scotts' two trials, in 1847 and 1850 in Missouri, instigated a series of complex events which resulted in a Supreme Court decision, and ultimately hastened the onset of the American Civil War." For more information, go to http://digital.wustl.edu/d/dre/history.html.

The Dred Scott Decision inspired Abraham Lincoln to run for president. According to historians, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were a result of the Dred Scott Decision and the Civil War.

For the full text of the Dred Scott decision (Scott v. Sanford), see http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0060_0393_ZS.html.

SOURCE Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, St. Louis, MO.