In 1819, Missouri had the requisite amount of eligible voting men to apply for statehood, and it did. But because the Senate was balanced between slave and free states, the idea was tabled until the Fall as Missouri wanted to come in as a slave state. In the summer of 1819, Maine applied to become a state and due to it being so far north, there was no question that it would be free. In 1820, Congress passed the Missouri Enabling Act, which gave Missouri territory permission to hammer out a constitution. Missouri came into the Union by Proclamation on August 10, 1821.

It is here that the wedge issue of Slavery is starting to become a very contentious one, as the national debate of allowing yet another slave state into the union rankled many in the North and the western territories. Hence, the Missouri Compromise was negotiated and because there were provisions in it that both sides they could live with, lawmakers thought the slavery expansion question was finally put to rest with the establishment of the Mason-Dixon Line, the Writ of Habeas Corpus and “Once free, always free.” Subsequent events proved otherwise.

The ten year period from 1850 with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, to the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln , proved to be the most difficult in our country’s history and it put the Union asunder. There is no way to neither minimize the contributions that slavery made to the development of the country, nor can you discount the moral anguish and dilemmas the peculiar institution caused. There was no life in America slavery did not touch, as it was the economic underpinnings of whole industries. The North was just as complicit as the South in it’s justification and perpetuation.

It was a fact that from the colonial through antebellum periods all roads led here. Missouri as a slave state was the last eastern city on the frontier was unique in that free soil bordered three sides of it. From statehood to the Civil War sixty-five percent of each legislative term dealt with the subject of slavery. Missouri was a great indicator of the national mood on the subject as there equal amounts of pro and anti slavery sympathizers and advocates. There are historians that say that the Civil War actually started here.

When asked, what region of the country is Missouri culturally aligned and most will answer - the Midwest. But that is not true. This is the Upper South. When you look at early settlement patterns, our early white settlers came via the Old National Road and they brought their Virginian and Kentuckian culture and slaves with them, which is why the subject of slave of free was so important to the development and early prosperity of the state. There are parts of Missouri that were settled with patriot land grants that are still in the same families today. Because of that historical stability, we still have plantations that still have slave quarters. Some of these plantations are open to the public. Slavery was different here in that there were very few plantations with over fifty slaves, most were small holdings with five to ten slaves. Eighty percent of the slaves held in the state were not held in the southern part of the state were everyone would assume, but in an area along the Missouri River known as Little Dixie, 100 miles north and west of St. Louis.

The laws to keep people of color under control were strict and applied to both slave and free. These laws collectively became as the “Black Codes.” These restrictions didn’t keep them from making great strides, in fact free Blacks had a coffee house on the Levee, as early as 1840’s. Slavery in the city of St. Louis was different for a variety of reasons. First, we had a large free Black population, that rivaled Savannah and New Orleans. There are Blacks who were able to accumulate great wealth from the beginning of the city and whose names and marks appear on the original city charter. Second, most of the slaves here were skilled in service professions such as housekeepers, cooks, gardeners, etc. Third, and there was the practice of hiring out. Dred and Harriet Scott were hired out to provide income for Mrs. Emerson. They lived apart from her when they filed their freedom suit.

In 1846, when Dred and Harriet Scott filed their freedom suit, I am sure they had no idea of the ten-year odyssey that would ensue. All they wanted was freedom, what nation got was Civil War. A newspapermen at the time of the US Supreme court deliberations interviewed Dred Scott to ask his opinion about the case and it’s attention. Scott did not seem to know much about it or the effect that is was having on the nation. In fact he was still working as a hired out porter when he was set free, but not by the courts. Once he finally did get his freedom, he died within six months. Next year on March 6th, 2007 marks the 150th anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision. And though the high court failed to free him, they did set into motion events that emancipated an entire race.

The Underground Rail Road was functioning here even though it was hard for slaves to run away. It must have been very difficult for a Missouri Slave to be able to look across the Mississippi River and see free soil, but never able to get there. On May 20th, 1855 a group of nine slaves met with abolitionists at the home of a free Black woman named Mary Meachum to effect an escape that night. Though the escape was only partially successful, it is fully documented and is a National Park Service Network to Freedom site. The UGRR was just one of the ways a slave could seek freedom. A slave could sue his master here in Missouri. St. Louis Circuit Court has the largest collection of freedom suits in the country. Another way to get your freedom was through manumission, this is where your master for reasons of his own freed you through a document filed with the courts.

We are offering the fam trip to enable you to share this history with your readers. We want you to be able to place your hand on doorframe of a slave cabin and look out over the same fields that slaves toiled from can’t see to can’t see; to give your readers a since of place. We want to share the oral histories and places of cultural memory that they built, but we need you to experience it and to write about it for your readers. St. Louis, as a destination has great restaurants and nightlife. Most of our cultural attractions are free unlike most cities, and we have the added bonus of a statewide rich ethnic heritage that is in tact.

For 2007, there is a 10 month calendar of events regarding Dred Scott and our slave heritage. All of our cultural institutions will house some type of exhibit or display in keeping with the city’s Slavery theme. This is the first time that this has been done with the city, state and Federal governments all involved on an ethnic theme. The Dred Scott decision, slavery and it’s aftermath still effects us today. Hopefully, this will help you decide to join us and to give you some backgorund on your story.