During the 1830s Dred Scott, an enslaved man, was sold to Dr. John Emerson, a military doctor. Emerson took Dred to places where slavery was illegal, including Fort Snelling, where Dred met and married Harriet Robinson, an enslaved woman, and started a family. In 1846 the Scotts began an eleven year court battle for freedom based on their time living in “free” states. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the “Dred Scott Decision” pushed the nation closer towards civil war.
