Not only are we entertaining spring a bit early in Chesterfield, we are entertaining Wendell Ohs, Victoria’s brother, on the occasion of his birthday-March 8. Here’s to you, Wendell, direct from New Orleans! That’s a Sazerac in my hand, mixed by master bartender, Dave, seen in the background here.

Musclemouth Performance (Click twice)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below our daffodils are bursting out two weeks before the calendar welcomes spring. The less brazen purple flowers are Lenten roses in our backyard and side yard.  Heedless of the sudden drop in temps to the thirties and forties here, the early bloomers are shaking their heads with laughter. We welcome them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faces of Dred Scott Exhibit – Opening on March 7

March 6 was the darker 166th anniversary of the Dred Scott decision, which consigned Blacks to chattel slavery – slavery in which an individual is considered the personal property of another–  until the Thirteenth Amendment in January 31, 1865. The occasion was commemorated by a new exhibit of Dred Scott artifacts displayed in the Law Library in downtown St. Louis. The library is a magnificent room on the thirteenth floor of the Civil Courthouse of the 11th District.

Featured speakers included the great-great granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott, Lynn Jackson, and Judge David Mason,  judge for Division 17 of the Missouri 22nd Judicial Circuit Court.  Lynn pointed to some of 28 exhibits on display for the first time, e.g. a poster of a 3-D Printed Maquette 14″ Fine Art Piece, a replica of the Dred and Harriet Scott statue displayed outside the Old Courthouse, where the decision was handed down.

Another featured exhibit shows both Abraham Lincoln and Dred Scott aging over a very short time during the expanse of slavery. The top image of Scott is a modern rendering of the younger Dred Scott– the bottom two the only other known photographs.

Above right is a proposed stamp to honor Dred Scott. We signed a petition to create this stamp on our way into the reception. Another image shows Dred and Harriet Scott pulling against a chain together in a representation for a proposed statue of the couple. Their lawsuit for freedom was a joint suit on the grounds that they had previously traveled to a free state, Illinois, where emancipation was expected, once having left a slave state, Missouri. Harriet is believed to a prime mover, not receiving the credit she deserved for initiating the suit. This image is a proposed design for a statue in Alabama.

A final image shows a design for a Dred Scott mosaic created by Green Hill  Detention  Center  School  group  project, Art  Class  in Washington  State.  The  design  is  incomplete,  but  was  sent  to  St. Louis  for  the  opening  of  the  exhibit.

Judge David Mason gave a keynote address after Lynne Jackson spoke. He has researched the so-called “Freedom Suits” that preceded the Dred Scott case in which hundreds of Black slaves had petitioned for their freedom.   He spoke passionately about the need for contemporary citizens to understand the dark history of slavery, as well as the subsequent period of the “Black Codes” and the Jim Crow laws.   The  heroism  of  Dred and Harriet Scott remind us not to take our freedom for granted.