Dred Scott Gets a New Headstone

A nine foot tall monument was placed at the final resting place of Dred Scott in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri in September 2023. The Supreme Court denied Scott, a former slave, his freedom in one of the most infamous judicial rulings in  United States history in 1857.

The new monument replaced a 2½-foot-tall headstone that was installed in 1957 by Rev. Edward Dowling, a genealogist. In 1992, the African Historical and Genealogical Research Society donated a plaque that read: “In memory of a simple man who wanted to be free — Dred Scott.”

Dred Scott’s grave was one of the most frequently visited at Calvary Cemetery, which is also the final resting place for famous people from St. Louis such as city co-founder Auguste Chouteau, Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman, novelist Kate Chopin, and playwright Tennessee Williams.

But still a great-great granddaughter of Scott's wanted a bigger monument to pay tribute to her relative.  Thanks to her fundraising efforts she was able to get her way.