Elizabeth Freeman (c. 1744 – December 28, 1829), also known as Mumbet,[a] was one of the first enslaved African Americans to file and win a freedom suit in Massachusetts.
When the court upheld Walker's freedom under the state's constitution, the ruling was considered to have implicitly ended slavery in Massachusetts.
The northern United States, along with the south, engaged in harsh treatment of Black people, with Massachusetts even considering “slavery as a way of life” until 1788.
Her early history has been pieced together from the writings of contemporaries to whom she told her story or who heard it indirectly, as well as from historical records.
In 1780, Freeman either heard the newly ratified Massachusetts Constitution read at a public gathering in Sheffield or overheard her enslaver talking at events in the home.
She heard what included the following:[2]All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.Inspired by these words, Bet sought the counsel of Theodore Sedgwick, a young abolition-minded lawyer, to help her sue for freedom in court.
According to Catherine Sedgwick's account, she told him: "I heard that paper read yesterday, that says, all men are created equal, and that every man has a right to freedom.
Arthur Zilversmit suggests the attorneys may have selected these plaintiffs to determine the status of slavery under the new state constitution.
[7] This meant that when Sedgwick took on the case, he hoped to find an answer to the question of constitutionality regarding slavery in Massachusetts through his representation of Freeman in court.
[8] The case of Brom and Bett v. Ashley was heard in August 1781 by the County Court of Common Pleas in Great Barrington.
[9] Sedgwick and Reeve asserted that the constitutional provision that "all men are born free and equal" effectively abolished slavery in the state.
When the jury ruled in Bett's favor, she became the first African-American woman to be set free under the Massachusetts state constitution.
The jury found that "Brom & Bett are not, nor were they at the time of the purchase of the original writ the legal Negro of the said John Ashley.
"[7] Interestingly, Sedgwick (its author) and Ashley both served on the committee that approved the Sheffield Resolves (resisting British rule), prior to finding themselves opposing each other in this case.
Also working at the Sedgwick household during much of this time was Agrippa Hull, a free black man who had served with the Continental Army for years during the American Revolutionary War.
[11] From the time Freeman gained her freedom, she became widely recognized and in demand for her skills as a healer, midwife, and nurse.
[15] A celebration of Elizabeth Freeman's role in the walk to freedom from enslavement included unveiling a statue in her honor by the Sheffield Historical Society in August 2022.