Thank you to all who attended our Special Juneteenth Event: The Milly Project: A Unique Freedom Suit Case and its Historical Implications
Co-sponsored by the Law Library Association and the Freedom Suits Memorial Foundation
The Milly Project is a heroic-turned-tragic, true story about Milly Sawyers, an enslaved Black woman, who filed two freedom suits in St. Louis, and then finally won her third, which she filed in Springfield, Missouri. Playwright Kendra Chappell has used Milly’s story to bookend her communication of a singular, but powerful, arc of the experiences of Black Americans from before the Civil War and up to the Black Lives Matter movement. This video production of The Milly Project was followed by a discussion led by distinguished panelists, including:
Lynne M. Jackson, great-great granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott; Founder and President of the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation
Greg Carr, Assistant Professor, Harris-Stowe State University
Kelly Schmidt, Professor of African and African-American Studies, Washington University
Judge David C. Mason, 22nd Judicial Circuit; Founder, Freedom Suits Memorial (Introducing the Panel Discussion)
Rob Good, Scholar in Residence, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Stay tuned for information on future joint projects by the Law Library Association and the Freedom Suits Memorial Foundation,
Thank you to our additional community sponsors (list in formation):
Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice LLC
Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL)
Brown & James Law Firm
Dowd Bennett
Husch Blackwell
Lexitas
Thompson Coburn LLP
