Dred Scott Heritage Foundation

Dred Scott, the enslaved man whose case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, is getting a new memorial monument. The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation is dedicating the monument in his honor on Saturday at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

The City of St. Louis presented copies of key documents about the lives of Dred and Harriet Scott to Lynne Jackson, a descendant of the Scotts and founder of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation. They include materials that have been freshly restored and digitized.

New and revamped exhibits at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis will better represent African American history in the city, particularly the story of Dred and Harriet Scott, who famously sued for their freedom there.

Lynne Jackson sometimes struggles to find her great-great-grandfather’s grave. Located in north St. Louis’ sprawling and historic Calvary Cemetery, the headstone is just two and a half feet high. A cemetery map helps, and on it, his grave is indicated in the key, with the number 19 beside his name: Dred Scott. It’s a modest memorial, and it’s also “the most asked-for grave out there,” said Jackson, who last week launched a fundraiser in hopes of creating a nine-foot-tall educational memorial at the spot.

Why aren’t Dred Scott and his wife buried in the same cemetery?Pamela Richardson posed that question to Curious Louis recently after a visit to Calvary…

As the great-great granddaughter of Dred Scott, the slave whose decision to sue for his freedom led to the Supreme Court decision that African Americans…

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 18, 2011 - Last Saturday, Jan. 15, during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Angela da…