SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - The Springfield-Greene County African-American Heritage Trail dedicated a new heritage trail marker to remember Milly Sawyers.

You can find the marker at the intersection of Boonville and Water Street in downtown Springfield. It honors Sawyers and her historical contribution. Sawyers sued the state for her freedom in the 1830s, becoming one of the first enslaved persons to sue for freedom in the state.

“And she felt like, based on the law, that since she was free previously, she should also be free here in Missouri,” said Missouri State University sociology professor Lyle Foster. “And she took that to court. And so today, when we hear about this story, we’re thinking about what was the audacity of a black woman, an African American woman, in the 1830s, to actuall

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