Video Description: Join professors for an insightful discussion on freedom suits filed by slaves as a method to gain their freedom in the first half of 19th century America.  Guests are Dr. Kelly Kennington, author of “In the Shadow of Dred Scott: St. Louis Freedom Suits and the Legal Culture of Slavery in Antebellum America” and Associate Professor of History at Auburn University and Dr. David Konig, Professor of Law and Emeritus Professor of History at Washington University in St. Louis. To learn more about freedom suits and see the records of freedom suits filed in the St. Louis Circuit Courts in the 1800’s, check out the resources available online in the St. Louis Freedom Suits/Legal Encoding Project.  To view a video with program guest Dr. David Konig as he explains the impact of the digital library of freedom suits provided through the Legal Encoding Project, click here.

• This program and a number of other videos on the website deal with freedom suits. As part of your study of the causes of the Civil War, use this video in conjunction with those in a flipped learning activity or a jigsaw activity. Have different groups of students watch different videos and bring their learning to class for use in discussion and/or as part of an activity. Search for these videos with the keyword “freedom suits.”
• Use this video and our other freedom suit videos for a more extensive student investigation of the topic beyond the well-known Dred Scott case. Search for videos on our site using the keyword “freedom suits.” Freedom suit records are available online at http://digital.wustl.edu/legalencodingproject/.
• Use the video for a whole class activity as you study the history of slavery in America or provide it to students for extension or independent projects on the subject.