A new memorial to Dred Scott at his final resting place sheds light on the impact of his life and the significance of his efforts to seek freedom from enslavement.
The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation hosted a dedication ceremony Sept. 30 at the site of the new monument at his gravesite in Calvary Cemetery in north St. Louis. The cemetery is part of the Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Dred Scott was a person with a “familiar name but an unfamiliar story,” said Lynne Jackson, founder and president of the foundation and great-great-granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott. “This monument has the real estate to tell people who he is and why he is important. We hope that people walk away with a greater understanding and appreciation of the impact he had.”
The foundation, which works to educate the public of the impact of the Dred Scott decision and the struggle for freedom of Dred and Harriet Scott through commemoration, education and reconciliation, held a GoFundMe campaign for the memorial, a 9-foot-tall, black granite monument that faces the cemetery road. The monument also was made possible through a contribution from the Mellon Foundation.
The memorial, which is flanked by two benches, contains biographical and historical information on Dred Scott, his wife, Harriet, and Gates Madison, the Scotts’ first grandchild, who was interred with his grandfather. It also includes several quotes from Scripture and the Declaration of Independence.
For more than a decade, Dred and Harriet Scott, with the help of friends and supporters, fought for their freedom from slavery and to change established law. The U.S. Supreme Court decision on March 6, 1857, claimed that Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States and therefore had no right to bring suit in the federal courts, which caused a public outcry throughout the country.
On Sept. 17, 1858, about 18 months after the decision, Dred Scott died of tuberculosis and was buried in an unmarked grave in St. Louis at the old Wesleyan Cemetery at Grand and Laclede avenues. He had been given his freedom two months after the court decision. When it was anticipated the cemetery would close, Henry Taylor Blow, whose parents enslaved Scott, had his remains moved to Calvary Cemetery. Henry Taylor Blow had supported Scott’s quest for freedom.
Jesuit Father Edward P. Dowling found the records for Scott’s gravesite in time for the centennial of his court case in 1957 and encouraged efforts to mark the grave. On March 6, 1957, Scott’s descendants and Father Dowling joined the president of the Saint Louis University Law School Student Bar Association to lay a wreath on the still-unmarked grave. A descendant of the Blow family purchased a modest two-and-a-half-foot engraved headstone. Father Dowling died in 1960.
Scott’s gravesite is one of the most visited at Calvary, according to Catholic Cemeteries. Calvary is the second oldest of the archdiocesan cemeteries and the final resting place of other notable individuals including General William Tecumseh Sherman, Kate Chopin and Auguste Chouteau.
Jesuit Father Frank Reale and David Miros, executive director of the Jesuit Archives & Research Center, represented the Jesuits’ USA Central and Southern Province at the ceremony at Calvary. The Jesuits’ province made a donation toward the new monument.
Father Reale noted that the monument is a reflection of a strong commitment to democratic and Christian values. “That we might be more true to values as Christians and U.S. citizens was a theme shared by a number of the speakers,” he said.
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For more information, visit dredscottlives.org.
To contribute to the fundraising campaign, visit bit.ly/3iCGLZR or send a check indicating a contribution for the memorial to the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation, Attn: Site Mail, P.O. Box 705, St. Louis, MO 63032