Elizabeth Freeman (c. 1744-1829) was the first enslaved woman to file and win a freedom suit in the state of Massachusetts. Her case set the precedent for freedom suits across the state, more than 80 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.
Elizabeth Freeman (c. 1744-1829) was the first enslaved woman to file and win a freedom suit in the state of Massachusetts. Her case set the precedent for freedom suits across the state, more than 80 years before the Emancipation Proclamation.
You’re probably familiar with rebels without a cause, but what about rebels with a cause? This month on Womanica, we’re talking about women who broke rules that were meant to be broken. From the “Godmother of Title IX” Bernice Sandler, to the most prominent figure of the People Power Revolution, Corazon Aquino, to the “Queen of Civil Rights” Ruby Hurley, these women took major risks to upend the status quo and create meaningful change.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about Rebels WITH a cause: women who broke rules that were meant to be broken. These women took major risks to upend the status quo and create meaningful change.
Today, we’re talking about the first enslaved woman to file and win a freedom suit in the state of Massachusetts. Her case set the precedent for freedom suits across the state, more than 80 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. Her rebellion is forever memorialized in the name she chose for herself upon winning her freedom.
Let’s talk about Elizabeth Freeman.
We don’t know much about Elizabeth’s early life– her story has mainly been passed down through oral retellings and family accounts. She was most likely born around 1744, as an enslaved person in Claverack, Columbia County, New York.
When her enslaver’s daughter got married to Colonel John Ashley, Elizabeth and her younger sister, Lizzie, were sent to his plantation in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Their new enslavers were wealthy citizens, and very cruel. In one instance, Mrs. Ashley tried to hit Lizzie with a hot shovel. Elizabeth intervened, receiving a gash on her arm in return. Instead of covering the wound, she kept it in the open, as proof of her mistreatment.
While in Sheffield, Elizabeth also gave birth to a baby girl. She never named the father– whether out of protection for the child, or because the baby’s conception was due to a traumatic experience, we don’t know. We do know she named the child Elizabeth.
Elizabeth worked in the Ashley’s home. Colonel Ashley was a judge of the Berkshire court of common pleas, and often hosted men to chat through news of the revolution in the house… where he thought nobody was listening.
In January of 1773, he moderated the committee that wrote the Sheffield Declaration. This was a proclamation of rights for colonial Sheffield, one of many similar documents that were drafted in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War.
Elizabeth was there when it was read aloud. One section in particular piqued her interest. It read: “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty, and property.” That language probably sounds familiar.Three years later, it was incorporated into the Declaration of Independence.
And when the Massachusetts State Constitution was ratified on June 15, 1780, it enshrined those rights as the law of the land. It stated in its first article, “All men are born free and equal.”
So, Elizabeth decided to sue for her freedom.
She sought the legal assistance of Theodore Sedgwick, a prominent attorney who had also worked on the Sheffield Declaration. Elizabeth wanted to mount a freedom suit – an approach through the courts to end her enslavement. Sedgwick took on her case, and added another enslaved person from Ashley’s estate, a man named Brom. Brom and Elizabeth’s suit was a test case, an organized attempt to see what legal grounds had changed under the new Constitution.
In May of 1781, Elizabeth’s team filed their suit. It ordered Colonel Ashley to release Elizabeth and Brom on the grounds that they, too, were “born free and equal.” And thus, the Massacusetts Constitution outlawed slavery. Ashley’s team rejected this claim, insisting that the law didn’t apply to Elizabeth and Brom because they had been enslaved before the constitution was passed.
But the jury agreed with Sedgwick, Elizabeth, and Brom, and in August of 1781, Brom and Bett v. Ashley was decided in Elizabeth’s favor. Elizabeth and Brom were set free,awarded 30 shillings and reimbursed the costs of the trial.
Ashley tried to file an appeal, but was quickly shot him down after two other freedom cases were decided in favor of the plaintiffs.
During her time as an enslaved person, Elizabeth had been referred to as “Mum Bett” - short for “Mother Beth.” Upon her court victory, she chose a new, more fitting name: Elizabeth Freeman.
In the wake of the trial, Ashley actually asked Elizabeth to return to his house as a paid servant. Elizabeth said no. Instead, she took a job as a domestic servant in Sedgwick’s household. Sedgwick’s daughter, Catharine, became a writer, and collected Elizabeth’s stories in her books.
Elizabeth was well-loved by the family and was known to be a skilled healer, midwife, and nurse. In one instance, according to Catharine’s stories, Elizabeth saved the family’s silver from a band of marauders. She hid the silver in her trunk and mocked the thieves for wanting to search a Black woman’s belongings, tricking them into leaving empty-handed.
The Sedgwicks, however, did not use Elizabeth’s preferred name. They continued to refer to her as “Mumbet”. Just as the Ashleys had. This detail, much like the silver anecdote Catharine recalled with humor, is a reminder that even as a free woman, Elizabeth lived her life fighting against a system that denied her personhood.
After 20 years of work, Elizabeth bought her own house, where she lived with her children. She died on December 28, 1829. She was buried in the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She is the only non-Sedgwick buried in the inner-circle of the family plot. Today, a bronze statue of Elizabeth faces the Sedgwick house in Sheffield. She stands about eight feet tall, with a small shovel in one hand, her judgment of freedom in the other– and on her arm, a visible wound. A reminder of her rebellion.
All month, we’re talking about rebels with a cause. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!