Book Review - Am I Not A Man? The Dred Scott Story

You've probably heard of Dred Scott. His is a name attached to great legal precedent much like Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade. Sadly, I recognized the name but didn't really know his story - only that it involved slavery. Shame on me.

Mark L. Shurtleff, Attorney General for the state of Utah, admits to becoming fascinated by Scott's case while in law school. Years of personal research, in addition to his studies, motivated him to write an incredibly thorough account of who Dred Scott was and the events in his life that led to his infamous case before the 1857 United States Supreme Court who decided by a seven to two majority that persons of African descent were not citizens of the United States. Included in their opinion was that the black man, whether freed or slave, had no right to legal recourse in Federal Court, and that the Missouri Compromise, which allowed slaves who became free by traveling to states where slavery was illegal to remain free, was unconstitutional. In short, Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled that a black man was not a man and had no rights. Wow.

While a summary the Scott v. Sandford case might easily enough be described in a paragraph or two, the hows and the whys of this case cannot. Shurtleff, befitting his profession, gives justice to Scott's story by putting it in context. Who was Roger Taney? Why did his former owners, the Blow family, support his bid for freedom when they themselves didn't free Scott before selling him to John Emerson? Who was the Sandford in Sandford v. Scott? Knowing who these people were in relation to Scott is important but understanding their own histories and backgrounds, and the life events that placed them in Scott's trajectory certainly fuel Shurtleff's hypothesis, along with many others, that this case, and the fallout that stemmed from it, were directly responsible for electing of Abraham Lincoln as our sixteenth president in 1860. He certainly convinced me.

When asked to review Am I Not A Man as part of an online book tour, I asked the senior editor of the publishing company what kind of feedback she was looking for. She replied, "Honest feedback." That I can do.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. From the book's beginning, Shurtleff can't seem to decide if he's writing a novel or a biography. Being the novel lover that I am, I felt frustrated each time Shurtleff left Scott's character to write in legalese, give a US history lesson or, worse, sermonize with hindsight. I just wanted him to pick one style of writing because the transition between the novel and biography, and even, sometimes, a legal textbook, didn't work. It felt choppy and detracted from the overall quality of his writing, which was really good.

While I can't say the problem worked itself out, I can say that I cared less about it as the book continued because I genuinely wanted to know what happened next - regardless of style. This is an important story to know and I am a better person for knowing it. Dred Scott's legacy not only comes from the equality he helped bring to all men regardless of race, but it also includes his shining example of how mankind should be: patient, true, forgiving, humble, loyal, curious, full of hope, full of charity and trusting in his creator to endure to the end.

I cheerfully recommend it to anyone with a desire to better understand our nation's history and the struggle of a slave AND man: Dred Scott. You may buy it here.