Lynne M. Jackson Remarks:
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Subject: Library of Congress Speech for Toby Press
"Greetings from The Show Me State, and the home of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals!
My name is Lynne Marie Madison Jackson and I am privileged to be a great-great
granddaughter
of Dred and Harriet Scott and am honored to speak
on behalf of our family during this momentous occasion.
I would like to thank Mary Neighbor, author of Speak Right On and Roger
Mehl of Toby Press for
the invitation to speak to you briefly on the
occasion. Because of local activities, I cannot be there
in person,
but I accept and appreciate the opportunity to share with you on this
day in the location where the final decision was determined and handed
down.
Today, March 6, 2007, is an amazing milestone in the history of our
nation. The 150th Anniversary
of the Dred Scott Decision is being
commemorated here throughout the year. We are not celebrating,
but commemorating the decision of 1857, a case that at times, has seemed
obscure in the minds of most. However, throughout the year, we
hope the legacy and future possibilities that this case affords will
set well and deep within the consciences of all Americans as we reflect
on the meaning of the many aspects of this case.
This past weekend we just had an invigorating 3 day symposium organized by Washington University. Many top scholars on the Dred Scott case gathered to remember, expound, analyze dialogue and then challenge us to move beyond the dream into the reality of equality and justice for all. It’s a tall order, but if not now, when?
There is an excitement in the air that we are finally hearing the story in greater detail and with a deeper interest than ever before.
In St. Louis, the Missouri State Archives and Washington University are restoring and preserving thousands of original documents pertaining to our local history. These rediscovered documents include the original petitions that bear the X marks of Dred and Harriet as they began their freedom suits at the Old Court House here in downtown St. Louis. The Old Court House stands as a museum on Broadway and Chestnut Streets and clearly remains primarily because of the history made there by my great-great grandparents.
It is no accident, but I believe rather a divine act of Providence that for the last ten years I have worked at one of the top law firms in the country, Bryan Cave LLP which is on the top floors of the Metropolitan Square Building exactly two blocks away from the Old Court House. I can look out any window on the south side from the 39 th - 32nd floors and see the courthouse building and steps where it all began. I have often envisioned Dred and Harriet anxiously and excitedly walking up those steps to file their freedom suit so their family could be free. With the once free, always free mandate on their side, they had every hope that this formality would be the direct and sure route to their emancipation.
In 1850, they were actually declared free after a mistrial and retrial where a jury decided in their favor. What a glorious day that must have been, and yet all to short lived because of the appeal of Mrs. Irene Emerson. I encourage anyone who has not followed the detailed steps of this case to do so. A fascinating story unfolds with many sidelines in history that connect to it that make it all the more intriguing. Attorney Roswell Field plays a most pivotal role and affects even the future presidency.
We have begun The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation to raise money to honor Dred and Harriet and continue the legacy of learning and the hope of heartfelt reconciliation. It is our goal that a statue of Dred Scott will grace a city park in downtown St. Louis and programs and scholarships will provide the education and healing that our society longs for and our young people deserve. We anticipate doing this through various media and artistic venues that will reach people in a lasting way.
We are very grateful for the 50 organizations which have signed up most of them over a year ago, to form the Friends of the 150th Anniversary of the Dred Scott Decision. Because of their understanding of the significance of this case and their commitment to using their specific perspectives to tell the story, we are blessed to have broad participation including many significant portrayals and historical re-enactments, major exhibits, tours, commissioned theatrical plays, an original musical, and newly created educational tools, school contests, support of the local universities and some school districts, most local media outlets, The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, The National Parks Service, The St. Louis Library System, The Missouri Historical Society, Bryan Cave LLP and several local legal organizations, sororities and fraternities, the list goes on.
This was an event that affected everyone, regardless of race, class,
or location. Today there are people in every category who want
to affect race, class and location with the event.
For this, I am thankful.
*********** ************** ******************
I am often asked by sincere and interested people, how I feel about being the great-great granddaughter of Dred Scott. I have never felt comfortable with that question and actually try to avoid answering it.
It became important for me to find out why that question bothered me so much. I believe the Lord recently helped me define the problem. I don’t feel about it, I THINK about it! Feelings are unstable and fleeting. Thoughts should be based on facts, realities.
So I will share with you what I THINK about being a descendant of Dred and Harriett Scott.
I think about the courage and fortitude, the tenacious spirits of a whole family and the difficulties they endured because of their convictions.
I think about the 5 trials over 11 years and how after having won their case, they then endured the adversities of the appeals process and the final decision that seemed to seal their fate.
I think about how similar was Chief Joseph’s Lament, of the Indian Nation that cried out his appeal to those who would enslave and remove his people from the land.
I think about how the Missouri Supreme Court wrote in their 1852 decision saying in essence: “Missouri is willing to accept the consequences of having slavery within her borders.”
I think of the consequences of this declaration and the far reaching ramifications unto this day.
I think of the courage, extreme bravery and dedication of white abolitionists
such as:
William Wilberforce who fought his whole career to change the laws of
England until slavery was abolished, just days before his death,
John Brown who believed God mandated him to give all, including his life to end slavery,
William Lloyd Garrison, who paid an enormous fine for participating in the underground railroad and considered it his purchase price to continue to do so and
Elijah P. Lovejoy in Alton, IL whose printing press was thrown into the river and who was brutally murdered because he continued to print the truth.
I think of Charles Sumner, for whom Sumner High School (the first black and segregated high school west of the Mississippi) is named after, a Senator from Massachusetts who was nearly beaten to death on the floor of the Senate for his passionate anti-slavery speech. I think how amazing it is that most people do not know that Sumner was a white man.
Previously, I said the Dred Scott decision SEEMED to seal their fate, but as you know, Dred’s family’s freedom was purchased several weeks later by Peter Blow and they lived the rest of their days in freedom. For Dred, that was a year and a half , For Harriet, almost another 20 years.
I think similarly about the faith of Dred and Harriet and their descendants and how they believed original sin seemed to seal our fate, but believed after three days, Jesus redeemed us so we would be eternally free.
I think about how God has preserved this people against all odds and given us a place and a purpose in this land.
And after having said all that, now I can say, I FEEL thankful and proud to be a part of an ethnic people and a spiritual people that stand for the courage of our convictions. I pray that we will use this hour in history to make right those wrongs that are forever a part of our past, but because of Redemption, do not HAVE to be, any more, a part of our future.
I had the privilege of meeting Mary Neighbor and becoming acquainted with her book, Speak Right On in February, 2006 during the release and book signing at the Eugene Field House in St. Louis.
Although Speak Right On is a work of fiction, it is written from a perspective that is rich in history and insight into what life must have been like for many in the slave community. Her portrayal of the characters of Dred and Harriet lovingly expresses Dred’s affable and sensible nature, Harriet’s strong-willed determination and their mutual love for one another. (By the way, these are realistic traits that are seen in the Madison family even today).
When people hear the name Dred Scott, they immediately think about the trial, the hardship, the outcome and the effect on the nation.
Mary’s book goes beyond that and draws the reader away from the trial and into the pre-trial lives of the Scotts so that the last few chapters concerning the trial are made even more poignant when the landmark decision and its after-effects are painted like dark clouds onto the canvas of their lives together. A fictional account such as Mary’s, brings heart and life into history that broadens our perspective and enriches our lives.
I am very appreciative of the research and care Mary invested to bring a compassionate look at historical figures that after all were flesh and blood, spirit and mind, desiring of the same rights of freedom and opportunity as any other human being. She captured the essence of the inner being , who, indeed when all is said and done, is who we all really are.
Thank you Mary, Roger and each of you who took time out today to remember this Moment in Time.
God Bless you. Goodbye."
Summary of Decision
Past Gateway Articles
Dred Scott Portrait
MHS Discovery Tour (PDF)
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