Organizers of the Springfield-Greene County African-American Heritage Trail invite the public to join them on Wednesday, Aug. 27, for the dedication of the Milly Sawyers trail marker.
The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. at the corner of Boonville Avenue and Water Street, in a city of Springfield parking lot.
At the event, members of the African-American Heritage Trail committee and community members will gather to honor the legacy of Milly Sawyers and her story’s contribution to local history. Sawyers was one of the first enslaved persons to sue for freedom in the state of Missouri. After unsuccessfully suing twice in St. Louis, she won her freedom on her third try, in Greene County. Sawyers, as a free woman, was beaten in the street by some of Springfield’s founding fathers.
“This story, which was uncovered only a few years ago, offers a unique example of the struggle that freed slaves could encounter,” a press release said. “The fact that Milly Sawyers utilized the recently formed Greene County court system adds significance to this story.
“It is a well-known fact that in the decades before the famous Dred Scott decision, slaves across the country filed hundreds, if not thousands, of freedom suits against their masters. In most of these cases, freedom was not granted. This story was only recently discovered by the director of the Greene County Archives from the yellowed public court records. As a result, it has received attention in many ways, including through a dramatic production and a short film.”
The ceremony will start in the History Museum on the Square’s education center with a brief program. Attendees will then walk over to the marker site. This is the 10th marker on the trail. The first marker was designated during the annual Park Day Reunion at Silver Springs Park in August 2018.