January/February 2007 issue
Judicial Learning Center in St. Louis Hosts Dred Scott Display
The Eighth Circuit Judicial Learning Center is
hosting the exhibit Dred Scott,
Slavery and the Struggle to Be
Free beginning March 1,
2007, through September 30,
2007.
On March 6, 1857, Chief
Justice Roger B. Taney
delivered the “Dred Scott
Decision.” Justice Taney tried to address the
national issues of slavery and states rights in a
way which would calm the country. Instead the
court’s decision steered the country toward
disunion and civil war. March 6, 2007 marks the
sesquicentennial of that landmark decision.
Presented in 24 panels containing photographs,
illustrations and reproductions of newspaper
articles and documents, the exhibit examines the
Dred Scott Case, as well as the effects of slavery
in antebellum Missouri.
The Old Courthouse was the site of the state
portion of the Dred Scott trial. Dred Scott was
not the only slave to sue for his freedom. Lucy
Delaney also sued for her freedom in the same
courthouse. The exhibit also presents a copy of
the manumission papers of ex-slave Nicene
Clark by Taylor Blow. Blow also set Dred Scott
free after the decision was rendered by the
United States Supreme Court. (During the mid-
1800s Taylor Blow lived on the block upon
which the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse
was later built.)
The exhibit is on loan from The National Parks
Service at the Old Courthouse which is part of
the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
The exhibit was researched and organized by the
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial with
support from the Jefferson National Parks
Association.