QC PastPort is proud and honored to unveil our latest destination in Rock Island to honor the legacy of Dred Scott and commemorate the time he lived in the Quad Cities before his landmark Supreme Court case. Visit Quad Cities commissioned this destination.
It was a warm and windy day along the Great River Trail, a few hundred feet east of Schwiebert Riverfront Park, where the destination was unveiled by QC PastPort and Visit Quad Cities, along with the Mayor of Rock Isl
and, members of the Rock Island City Council, representatives from Augustana College, Black Resources Inc., and Regena Trant-Schantz, Author of The Trader At Rock Island. We even had the pleasure of welcoming a few bicyclists and joggers through the path of the event!
Dred Scott was an enslaved man brought to Rock Island by a U.S. Army physician named Dr. John Emerson. He arrived in 1833 at Fort Armstrong, which is now where the Rock Island Arsenal is located. He served alo
ngside Dr. Emerson for three years at the Fort. While he did not live here long, his life has a lasting impact on our community and our Country. Along with his wife Harriet, he unsuccessfully sued for his freedom. His case went to the Supreme Court, and is considered by many historians to be one of the key decisions leading to the Civil War.
The unveiling of the destination featured short remarks from QC PastPort President Natalie Linville-Mass, Visit Quad Cities President and CEO Dave Herrell, and Rock Island Mayor Ashley Harris. “Dred Scott was a resident of this Fort from 1833-1836,” said Natalie Linville-Mass. “Imagine what it would have been like on this spot 200 years ago.”
“Had I been here 200 years ago, I would not be Mayor,” said Mayor Harris, “No matter how good my campaign was.” It was a moment of levity that underscored the incredibly dark history of the Dred Scott case and that time in America. As Dave Herrall said, “This history is hard to hear, but it needs to be heard, because this is how we learn from it.”
When you stand at the QC PastPort destination and look across the river to the Arsenal, you are standing in the place where history happened, where Dred Scott lived before his fight for freedom.
To find directions to this site and other QC PastPort destinations, click here. If you’d like to help us in our quest to share more Quad Cities history, click here.