ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Preservation Board this week will review a proposed $1 million sculpture project to commemorate hundreds of slaves who petitioned Missouri courts for their freedom.
If approved Wednesday, fundraising will begin toward the proposed “Freedom Suits Memorial†sculpture, to commemorate the roughly 400 lawsuits filed by slaves and their pro-abolition lawyers under the “once free always free laws.†Missouri law said that if a slave was taken into a free state long enough for the slave owner to gain residency, the slave became free and stayed that way when they returned to Missouri.
The proposed bronze sculpture, approximately 14 feet tall, would go in the plaza just east of the Civil Courts Building downtown, between it and the Old Courthouse, where most of the lawsuits were tried. City officials and judges held a site dedication ceremony there in August.
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The chosen sculpture design is by , a retired professor at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and a gallery owner in Peoria, Illinois. Preston’s public works include a statue of Miles Davis in Alton as well as others honoring Black history and culture in Springfield and Decatur, Illinois.
Some slaves who filed suit won their freedom, but those who didn’t faced the prospect of being sold to more repressive states. were among those who won, although their victory would be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857.
The idea for erecting a sculpture came five years ago from Circuit Judge David Mason. Mason, who chairs the Freedom Suits Memorial Committee, “provided proof for the American ideal that even those with (the) least means can achieve justice through the courts.â€
A 12-member committee of lawyers, court officials, academics and artists picked Jackson’s design in March. According to the Freedom Suits Memorial project page, each angle of the sculpture would offer a pictorial lesson about the lawsuits, incorporating free-standing and relief sculptures in a work recalling the dome and cupola of the Old Courthouse.
The city’s is recommending the preservation board approve installation of Jackson’s sculpture, saying it “presents a dynamic visual narrative that will educate the public regarding freedom lawsuits.â€
The new sculpture would be just west of Richard Serra’s “Twain,†a sculpture installed in 1982.
The board will take up the proposal at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Fundraising for the sculpture is being handled by the nonprofit . The total would include money for maintenance, lighting, landscaping, benches and space to list the hundreds of names of slave plaintiffs and their lawyers.