22nd Judicial Circuit Court hosts unveiling of memorial honoring Missouri’s Freedom Suits

The 22nd Judicial Circuit Court and the Freedom Suits Memorial Steering Committee will host an unveiling ceremony of a new memorial on the east plaza of the Civil Courts Building in downtown St. Louis on June 20. The monument commemorates the Freedom Suits, a series of approximately 300 lawsuits brought before the Circuit Court in St. Louis in the mid-1800s.

The memorial centers around a fourteen-foot tall bronze sculpture atop a black granite base. Created by nationally recognized Black artist, Preston Jackson, the statue also highlights the names of the plaintiffs involved in this historic period in legal history. For more information about the Freedom Suits, the artist behind the work, and the planning of the memorial, click here.

The ceremony will include remarks by keynote speaker retired lieutenant general Russel L. Honoré, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Lynne Jackson (a direct descendant of Dred & Harriet Scott), and Circuit Judge David C. Mason, who envisioned and championed this entire effort.

For more information on the day’s events, please contact Jacob Long, chief communications officer for the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court at jacob.long@mo.courts.gov.