KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS: [REGION Edition]

Abstract

Dred Scott, a fourthgrade teacher at Robinson Elementary School in Raytown, is a soft-spoken man who all his life has had to explain his first name. People ask: "Where did you ever get a name like that?"

"My father, Van Scott, named me," Scott said. "He had always said he would name his first son Dred. When he was in fourth grade, in St. Louis, he learned about Dred Scott, the first black slave to sue his owner for his freedom."

"I was in fourth grade at a Catholic grade school, and I saw a picture of Dred Scott and a caption about him. In those days that was all you got on black history in the history books," Van Scott said. "I wondered then if there was any connection to me and Dred Scott."