JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Mark L. Shurtleff, author of Am I Not A Man? The Dred Scott Story
(Sortis Publishing)

An illiterate slave, Dred Scott, trusted in an all-white, slave-owning jury to declare him free. But after briefly experiencing the glory of freedom and manhood, a new Missouri Supreme Court ordered the cold steel of the shackles to be closed again around his wrists and ankles. Falling to his knees, Dred cried, “Ain’t I a man?” Dred answered his own question by rising and taking his fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Despite the help of his white friends who loved him, Dred ultimately lost his epic eleven-year legal battle when Chief Justice Taney declared that a black man was so inferior that he had “no rights a white man was bound to respect.” He died eighteen months later not knowing that his unfailing courage and tenacity led directly to the election of President Abraham Lincoln, sworn in 150 years ago; and ultimately to the Emancipation Proclamation, Civil War and freedom.

Dred Scott’s inspiring and compelling true story of adventure, courage, love, hatred and friendship parallels the history of this nation from its founding, through the long night of slavery, to the narrow crack in the door he opened that would ultimately lead to freedom and equality for all men.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the inspiration to write Am I Not A Man? The Dred Scott Story?

Mark L. Shurtleff: As Utah Attorney General, I enforce the rule of law to ensure justice for all. One day several years ago while studying famous court cases for a Continue reading 5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Mark L. Shurtleff, author of Am I Not a Man? The Dred Scott Story →