Celebrate their freedom, not the ugly case bearing their name

Adam Arenson, University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

One hundred fifty years ago, Chief Justice Roger Taney announced the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in <i>Dred Scott v. Sanford<i>. Yet then something changed the lives of Dred and Harriet Scott and their daughters, Eliza and Lizzie, at least as much as the Dred Scott decision did: They became free. The day should come when their emancipation is more celebrated than their court defeat is observed.