“Black History: The Fight for Civil Rights in Davenport,” February 22

Tuesday, February 22, 6:30 p.m.

Davenport Public Library Fairmount Branch, 3000 North Fairmount Street, Davenport IA

Held in conjunction with Black History Month, a special presentation of massive cultural import will be held at the Davenport Public Library's Fairmount Branch on February 22, with Black History: The Fight for Civil Rights in Davenport celebrating figures of the Civil Rights movement who have a local connection – among them the formerly enslaved African-American who stayed in Davenport, and whose name is etched in history through the notorious "Dred Scott decision."

Born in Virginia circa 1799, Scott was an enslaved African-American who, along with his wife Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for freedom for themselves and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857. This case centered on Dred and Harriet Scott and their children, Eliza and Lizzie, with the Scotts arguing that they should be granted their freedom because Dred had lived in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory for four years, where slavery was illegal. Laws in those jurisdictions said that slaveholders gave up their rights to slaves if they stayed for an extended period. The Scotts' cases were first heard by the Missouri circuit court, and the first court upheld the precedent of "once free, always free" because the Scotts had been held voluntarily for an extended period by their owner in a free territory, which provided for slaves to be freed under such conditions. Therefore, the court ruled they had gained their freedom. The owner, however, appealed, and in 1852 the Missouri supreme court overruled this decision, on the basis that the state did not have to abide by free states' laws, especially given the anti-slavery fervor of the time. The decision stated that Scott should have filed for freedom in the Wisconsin Territory.

Scott ended up filing a freedom suit in federal court, and in a landmark case, 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 consequently could not bring suit in federal court under diversity of citizenship rules. Moreover, Scott's temporary residence outside Missouri did not bring about his emancipation under the Missouri Compromise, as the court ruled this to have been unconstitutional, as it would "improperly deprive Scott's owner of his legal property." While Chief Justice Roger B. Taney had hoped to settle issues related to slavery and Congressional authority by this decision, it aroused public outrage, deepened sectional tensions between the northern and southern states, and hastened the eventual explosion of their differences into the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the post-Civil War Reconstruction Amendments – the 13th through 15th amendments – nullified the decision. The Scotts were formally freed by a private arrangement in May of 1857, just one year before Dred Scott lost his life to tuberculosis.

Black History: The Fight for Civil Rights in Davenport will be presented at 6:30 p.m. at the Davenport Public Library's Fairmount Branch, a virtual option is also available, and more information on the free program is available by calling (563)326-7832 and visiting DavenportLibrary.com.