Dred Scott, American Civil Rights Hero #2

Photograph of Dred Scott taken around the time of his court case in 1857. Dred Scott (1799 - September 17, 1858) was an African-American slave who... more

by Science Source

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Dred Scott, American Civil Rights Hero #2

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Science Source

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Photograph

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Photograph of Dred Scott taken around the time of his court case in 1857. Dred Scott (1799 - September 17, 1858) was an African-American slave who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott vs. Sandford case of 1857, known as the Dred Scott Decision. His case was based on the fact that although he and his wife Harriet Scott were slaves, he had lived with his master Dr. John Emerson in states and territories where slavery was illegal according to both state laws and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, including Illinois and Minnesota. The United States Supreme Court decided 7-2 against Scott, finding that neither he nor any other person of African ancestry could claim citizenship in the United States, and therefore Scott could not bring suit in federal court under diversity of citizenship rules. It aroused outrage and deepened sectional tensions. President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments nullified the decision. He died from tuberculosis in September 1858. Photograph credited to Fitzgibbon of St. Louis, 1857.

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April 22nd, 2019