RICHMOND, Va. — Descendants of a black slave who sued for his freedom and the U.S. Supreme Court justice who denied that freedom shared their stories at an event sponsored by Virginians for Reconciliation.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Dred Scott descendant Lynne Jackson and Charlie Taney, a descendant of Chief Justice Roger Taney, spoke last week at the Virginia Union University.
Scott sued in 1847 seeking freedom for himself, his wife and their daughters. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1857. Taney's majority opinion that said no black people could ever be U.S. citizens was effectively overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendment after the Civil War.
Former Gov. Bob McDonnell recently formed the Reconciliation group to support racial healing through conversation and policy changes.
