PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT INFORMATION
DRED SCOTT HERITAGE FOUNDATION
LYNNE M. JACKSON, PRESIDENT
314-532-5613
May 9, 2022

The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation has been notified and is proud to announce a grant of $65,000 has been designated to the foundation for the construction of The Dred Scott Memorial Monument at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, MO from the Mellon Foundation Monuments Project.

$250 million was committed by the Mellon Foundation to transform the nation’s commemorative landscape by supporting public projects that more completely and accurately represent the multiplicity and complexity of American stories. We are most grateful to the Mellon Foundation for their vision to foresee how their support can impact organizations like ours and help create new and lasting legacies to the histories of our country, some which had not been understood until these times.

The Dred Scott Memorial Monument will be constructed on the current grave site of Mr. Scott at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. Plans are for a 9-foot-tall black granite monument facing the cemetery road. The monument will include column ornamentation with space for etching, design, the image of Dred Scott and a detailed history. A patio area with benches will be included where people can sit and meditate to understand how important Dred Scott was to the history of the United States of America.

For 90 years, at Calvary and 9 years prior at Wesleyan Cemetery, he laid in an unmarked grave.

When built, the Dred Scott Memorial Monument will continue to recognize Dred Scott’s place in history and to inform future generations of what enslaved African Americans endured in their fight for freedom and justice.

Dred Scott’s grave is among the top three most requested sites at the cemetery by visitors from all walks of life. The new memorial will be a fitting destination for those seeking this history, a place of pilgrimage and for lovers of American history. It will fulfill each of the foundation’s goals of Commemoration, Education and Reconciliation.