MRS SCOTT,DRED

Although the Dred Scott case is perhaps the most infamous case in Supr eme Court history, legal scholars frequently limit its significance to the part it played in setting the stage for the Civil War and the con stitutional reforms of the Reconstruction Amendments. Conventional leg al scholarship has not hailed the case as a step toward the establishm ent of personal and family freedom--an evolution that the contribution s of Harriet Robinson Scott, the wife of Dred Scott, may well have cat alyzed. Under conventional analyses predicating emancipation on master s' domiciles and intentions the claim of freedom that Harriet Robinson Scott asserted was arguably stronger than that of her better known hu sband. Yet the intersecting subordinations of race and gender that imp elled Harriet toward freedom also effaced her role in fighting for tha t freedom. This Article reconstructs the narrative of Harriet Robinson Scott's life, the role she played in the Dred Scott litigation, and h er own claims to freedom. Irs focus on Harriet compensates for the his torical erasure of enslaved women's contributions to legal reform and transforms our understanding of the supposed inevitability of the Tane y Court's decision under contemporary legal standards. Seen through th e lens of Harriet Robinson Scott's life, the Dred Scott litigation tea ches us about the historically contingent nature of coercion and agenc y, slavery and freedom, individual autonomy and family integrity.