The Woman Who Sued for Freedom: The legend of Marguerite Scypion, by Gift Luckson
Marguerite Scypion, also known in court files as Marguerite, (c.1770s – after 1836) was an African-Natchez woman, born into slavery in St. Louis, then located in French Upper Louisiana.
She was held first by Joseph Tayon and later by Jean Pierre Chouteau, one of the most powerful men in the city.
Slavery and Fight for Freedom
In 1805, two years after St. Louis came under US rule, Marguerite filed the first “freedom suit” in the city’s circuit court, 41 years before Dred Scott and his wife Harriet filed their more well-known case.
In November 1836, Marguerite, her children, her sister, and other descendants of Marie Jean Scypion, her mother, finally won their case as free people of colour.
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The unanimous jury decision in their favour was based on their maternal descent from a Natchez woman, as Indian slavery had been ended by the Spanish in 1769.
Trial and Victory
The trial venue was moved to Jefferson County because the Chouteau family was influential in St. Louis.
The decision withstood appeals to the state and the United States Supreme Court in 1838. The case was considered to end Indian slavery in Missouri.
Descendants
Throughout their struggle, Marguerite and her two sisters argued that their mother, Marie Jean Scypion, had been illegally enslaved after 1769 because, after the Spanish started ruling the area, the colonial governor abolished Indian slavery in the Louisiana Territory to make regional policy consistent with other Spanish colonies.
Since her mother was Natchez, Marie Jean Scypion was legally free. Thus, her descendants born after that date were also free, as they were born to a free mother.
Although an 1806 Louisiana Territorial Supreme Court ruling decided against the Scypion descendants, they did not give up their desire for freedom.
Following the passage of a new law in 1824 protecting enslaved people’s right to sue against illegal enslavement, the women and their children renewed their petitions.
In 1826, Marguerite Scypion, her children, and her two sisters filed separate suits against their masters. One of the Scypion sisters and some of their descendants died before the cases were decided.
The court combined the suits under the name of Marguerite (free woman of colour) for the final trial. She and the other descendants of Marie Jean Scypion finally achieved freedom in 1836.
Parents
Scypion was the third daughter born into slavery in St. Louis to Marie Jean Scypion, an enslaved woman. Marie Jean Scypion’s mother was Natchez and had been captured and sold into slavery during the Indian wars.
Her father was an enslaved Black person. Marguerite’s sisters were Celeste and Catiche. Their father was not identified. Joseph Tayon and his wife Marie Louise enslaved the mother and daughters.
After the two Tayon daughters married, Marie Louise Tayon assigned Celeste to Helene (Tayon) Chevalier and Catiche to Marie Louise (Tayon) Chauvin.
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Marguerite had several children: Antoine, Baptiste, Michael, and François. Their father was not identified. Celeste’s children were Auguste, Paul, Antoine, and Sophie. Sophie’s children Edward and William were also party to the suits. Catiche’s children were Helen, Joseph, Julie, and Camelite.
After 1825, Camelite’s daughter Mary was also covered in the suits.
Legacy
The Scypion daughters’ persistence won their families’ freedom and ended Indian slavery in Missouri.
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