This week, we uncover the life of Harriet Scott, the wife and co-plaintiff of Dred Scott in the infamous case Dred Scott v. Sanford, in which the Supreme Court held that African Americans were not citizens of the United States. This divisive case greatly influenced the outcome of the next presidential election and the South’s eventual secession from the Union, leading to the Civil War. Although much is known about the case itself, little attention has been devoted to Harriet Scott and her husband, the people who brought the case before the Court and lived with the devastating consequences.
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PARTICIPANTS
Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. Her newest book is Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America. She appeared in the C-SPAN and National Constitution Center’s Landmark Cases series video on the Dred Scott decision.
Lea VanderVelde is the Josephine R. Witte Chair at the University of Iowa College of Law. She is the author of Mrs. Dred Scott: A Life on Slavery’s Frontier, a one-of-a-kind biography of Harriet Scott, as well as Redemption Songs: Suing for Freedom before Dred Scott (2014).
Lana Ulrich is In-House Counsel at the National Constitution Center.
- The Supreme Court’s opinion in Dred Scott v. Sanford
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