Elizabeth Freeman, also called Mum Bett, was the first enslaved African-American to file and win a freedom law suit in the state of Massachusetts paving the way for a group of “freedom suits” that would ultimately lead the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to outlaw slavery in the state.

Mum Bett was born enslaved in Claverack, Columbia County, New York. While the exact date of her birth is unknown, scholars estimate it was between 1742 and 1744 on the plantation of Pieter Hogeboom. She was given to Colonel John Ashley when Hogeboom’s daughter married the Colonel. Accounts vary on why Mum Bett decided to seek freedom, but the most famous stories claim that she blocked Mrs. Ashley’s attempt to strike her sister with a heated kitchen shovel, which burned Mum Bett instead and she fled. Which might have led to Mr. Ashley’s attempt to reclaim her. Another story insists that Mum Bett overheard discussions of equality and freedom, in reference to the Sheffield Declaration (1773), the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the Massachusetts Constitution (1780) and this prompted her to seek an attorney.

Mum Bett was determined to gain her freedom. Colonel John Ashley was a wealthy citizen of Sheffield, Massachusetts and served as a judge of the Berkshire Court of Common Pleas. In January 1773, he moderated the local committee that wrote the Sheffield Declaration that stated that “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.” This same language was used in the United States Declaration of Independence of 1776 and in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780.

Seeking freedom, Mum Bett turned to Theodore Sedgwick, a prominent attorney who helped draft the Sheffield Declaration. Mum Bett, along with an enslaved man named Brom, began the process of fighting for their freedom. Historians note that Sedgwick and many of the lawyers in the area, decided to use this as a “test case” to determine if slavery was constitutional under the new Massachusetts Constitution.

In May of 1781, Sedgwick and his team filed a document called a “writ of replevin” with the Berkshire Court of Common Pleas that ordered Colonel Ashley to release Mum Bett and Brom. When Col. Ashley refused, the case known as Brom and Bett v. Ashley went to the County Court of Common Pleas of Great Barrington. Sedgwick argued that the Massachusetts Constitution outlawed slavery. The jury agreed and decided that Mum Bett and Brom were not Colonel Ashley's property. Mum Bett and Brom were set free and awarded 30 shillings and the costs of the trial. Colonel Ashley filed an appeal but dropped his case a few months later. His decision was likely informed by the Quock Walker trials that declared slavery incompatible with the new Massachusetts Constitution.

Once she gained her freedom, she chose the name Elizabeth Freeman. She became a paid domestic worker in Sedgwick’s household, and also worked as a prominent healer, midwife, and nurse. After 20 years, she was able to buy her own house where she lived with her daughter. Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman died on December 28, 1829 and was buried in the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Sources:

MLA - Alexander, Kerri Lee. "Elizabeth Freeman." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2019. Date accessed. Chicago - Alexander, Kerri Lee. "Elizabeth Freeman." National Women's History Museum. 2019. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/elizabeth-freeman.

The Legacy of Elizabeth Freeman, A Trustees Video: https://youtu.be/m9WgaMMPma0

“The Legal End of Slavery in Massachusetts.” African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Historical Society. Accessed on 2022, January 29. https://www.masshist.org/features/endofslavery/end_MA

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