The hundreds of people who filed lawsuits in Missouri that helped spur an end to slavery are being honored with a new monument in downtown St. Louis.
In the 1800s, Missouri law held if a person was once free, they were always free. Dred Scott, an enslaved man, and his wife Harriet claimed that he and his family should be freed because they had lived for a time in a free state.
Scott sued and won, leading to an 11-year legal battle. In 1857, the Supreme Court threw out the verdict — a decision that helped put the North and South on a collision course toward Civil War. The suits were filled during a time of racial segregation — Black slaves would need to walk into a St. Louis courtroom where they weren't allowed to read or write, couldn't even testify in a court of law and the judge and jury consisted solely of white men. Missouri was also a slave state.
"This is an incredible part of St. Louis's history. You had to be pretty brave and courageous just to file the suit, because if you lost, the consequences could be dire," he said."When I'm reading these files and reading the affidavits of the slaves, I mean, I'm hearing them, I'm feeling them, I'm hearing my people. These were some of the strongest people over 500 years that have ever been produced in American society.
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