President and Founder of The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation
Lynne M. JacksonHeritage:
Great-great granddaughter of Dred and Harriet Scott of the Dred Scott Decision, 1857
Great-great-great niece of Oscar Charleston, Negro League Superstar
Education:
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration/Marketing
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Graduate of Alleda Ward Wells Piano Studio of St. Louis
Major Life Accomplishments:
Founded the Dred Scott Heritage Foundation with the goals of commemoration, education and reconciliation. In 2010, the Foundation raised $250,000, commissioned, and installed the first and only statue of Dred Scott including his wife, Harriet, which stands outside the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, MO since June 8, 2012. The Foundation also raised over $80,000 for a new memorial for Dred Scott dedicated at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, MO in September 2023.
Her primary motive is to share and continue the legacy of Dred Scott and his important role in changing the landscape of the United States by his 11-year legal battle for freedom. Her expertise is blending the personal and legal cases together and portraying a composite picture of what the Scott family’s struggle really meant.
She created signature panels comprised of descendants whose stories connect directly or indirectly with the Dred Scott story and is in close association with the Blow Family (former owners of Dred Scott) and the Taney Family (whose ancestor Chief Justice who read the Dred Scott Decision), as well and the families of Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson Davis, to mention a few. These panels were designed to share the histories and the contemporary relationships as they stand today and why.
Prior to adding the Foundation’s work to her life, she has always been a lover of the Word of God and has been instrumental in teaching, writing, curriculum development, music, Vacation Bible School (Director/Designer), teaching apologetics with her husband and has been in 10-12 choirs over the years.
The priority and love of family and people motivate her and energizes her to help people excel and become knowledgeable about many things. Although she has never had her own classroom, the teacher in her comes naturally from her father and his mother, both being educators and community leaders and her father being a J.D. from Lincoln Law School.
She has travelled across the country and spoken to many hundreds of groups to share the expanding story of Dred Scott and his family, their ordeal and importance, hoping to encourage others to seek their histories and reconcile them when necessary.
