Now Showing:
"Slavery on Trial: The Dred Scott Decision"
“Slavery on Trial” is a 17-minute film detailing the struggle for freedom of St. Louis slaves Dred and Harriet Scott, and the infamous Supreme Court decision of 1857 that declared that African Americans had “no rights a white man was bound to respect.” The film was produced especially for Gateway Arch National Park, which preserves the Old Courthouse, site of the original freedom suit of the Scotts and their first two trials, by the History Channel.
The film uses historic documents and images, reenactment scenes, and interviews with historians (and a direct descendant of the Scotts) to bring the story to life and relate it to later civil rights cases in America. The film is shown on the half hour in the Old Courthouse, and is a fitting introduction to an exhibit on the Scott case, as well as historic courtrooms that include the one in which the Scotts received their freedom in 1857.
This video is available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily. The video is shown daily in the Old Courthouse Theater.
The first floor of the Old Courthouse is accessible by ramps from the Broadway Street side (west side) and the 4th Street side (east side). Portable ramps are available for access into the first floor galleries only.
The following are also available:
Accessible rest rooms and drinking fountains on the first floor.
The film "Slavery on Trial: The Dred Scott Decision" is open captioned and audio enhancement is available.
Walkways and a drinking fountain are accessible in Luther Ely Smith Square, located east of the Old Courthouse between Fourth Street and Memorial Drive.
