Dred and Harriet Scott Statue

The Dred and Harriet Scott Statue is a bronze public-art memorial on the east side of the Old Courthouse, honoring the couple's fight for their family's freedom. It's a brief outdoor stop, and pairing it with the courthouse galleries gives you the rest of the setting. The National Park Service doesn't operate a parking lot here, so plan on downtown garage parking.

On April 6, 1846, Dred and Harriet Scott filed suits for freedom at this courthouse. They had lived in free Illinois and Wisconsin Territory, and their case argued that this should free them and their family. The litigation lasted nearly eleven years and reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1857, the Court ruled against the Scotts, held that Black people could not be citizens, and struck down the Missouri Compromise. The Scotts did not win their freedom through the lawsuit.

Dred stands with an arm around Harriet, and the two hold hands; Harriet turns her face upward. The 10-by-4-by-4-foot bronze gives you a close detail worth noticing. For a photo, frame both figures with their joined hands visible; that small gesture is what makes the pair read as a couple rather than two separate statues.

Sculptor Harry Weber was commissioned in 2010, and the statue was dedicated on June 8, 2012. It stands on a dark granite base. Dred and Harriet's great-great-granddaughter Lynne M. Jackson helped unveil it, bringing the family into the ceremony as well as the history the memorial marks.