Elizabeth Freeman

A portrait of Freeman painted in watercolor on ivory by Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick in 1811

Elizabeth Freeman , also Bett or Mum Bett (* approx. 1742 in Claverack , Province of New York ; † December 28, 1829 in Stockbridge , Massachusetts , United States ), was one of the first black slaves in Massachusetts to bring a lawsuit against their attitude exerted as a slave and won this under the constitution valid in 1780. Your case, known as Brom and Bett v. Ashley ruled in her favor in August 1781 was used as a precedent for Quock Walker's trial in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court . After the Supreme Court acquitted Walker on the basis of the current constitution, that verdict was viewed as an informal end to slavery in the state.

“Any time, any time while I was a slave, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it - just to stand one minute on God's airth [sic!] a free woman - I would. "

"If someone had promised me just one minute of freedom during my time as a slave on the condition that I would die at the end of that minute, I would have accepted this offer at any time, really at any time, just for that one minute as a free woman to be able to stand on God's earth. "

- Elizabeth Freeman

biography

Since Freeman was illiterate , she did not leave her own record of her life. Her story was therefore put together from the official historical records as well as from many documents of contemporaries to whom she had told her story or who had been told it by third parties.

Life as a slave

Elizabeth Freeman was born as a slave around 1742 in Claverack on Pieter Hogeboom's farm, where she was given the name bed . When his daughter Hannah married Sheffield native John Ashley, she received the teenage bed as a wedding present. She stayed there until her release in 1781. She also married at this time and had a daughter named Betsy, although the marriage itself was not recorded. Her husband, whose name is also unknown, did not return from the American Revolutionary War .

Throughout her life, Bett has shown strong will and self-awareness. Among other things, there was a conflict with Hannah Ashley, who grew up in the strict Dutch culture of the province of New York , in which bed prevented Hannah from hitting her daughter Betsy with a heated shovel and sustaining a deep wound in her arm. Bett left the healing wound uncovered so that it could be seen by all as evidence of her harsh treatment: “I had an injured arm all winter, but Madam has been hit even worse. I never covered the wound, and when people asked me in front of Madam why my arm hurts, I replied, "Ask Missis!" Who was the slave now, and who was the real Missis? "

Gain freedom

John Ashley was a lawyer who graduated from Yale University who had grown into a wealthy landowner and businessman and held a senior position in society. A large number of political discussions took place in his house, which is still a museum today. It is also most likely the place where the Sheffield Declaration , which preceded the United States' Declaration of Independence, was signed.

Shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War, Bett listened to the reading of the Massachusetts Constitution in Sheffield, which states in Article 1: “All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and inalienable rights, including the law as such apply to develop and defend their lives and their freedoms, the right to acquire, own and defend property, in short the right to strive for and obtain their safety and happiness. ”Bett then sought advice from Theodore Sedgwick , a young abolitionist lawyer, to help her fight for her freedom in court: “Yesterday I heard the reading of the Constitution, which says that all people are created equal and that everyone has the right to freedom. I'm not a stupid beast; am I not entitled to freedom under the law? ”Sedgwick took on her case and an analogous case of Brom , who also worked as a slave for the Ashley's. Sedgwick got support from Tapping Reeve , the founder of the first US law school in Litchfield , Connecticut .

The Brom and Bett vs. Ashley was tried in the Great Barrington County Court of Common Pleas in August 1781 . Sedgwick and Reeve argued that the phrase "All men are created equal" ultimately outlawed slavery in the state. When the jury decided in favor of the plaintiff, she became the first African American woman to be set free under the Massachusetts state constitution.

The jury ruled that "Bromine and Bed were not John Ashley's legal negroes either now or at the time of their acquisition." The court set the damage amount to 30 shillings (this is equivalent to the equivalent of 144 pounds - if you consider inflation alone ) and awarded both plaintiffs compensation for their work.

Life in freedom

After the verdict was pronounced, Bett took the name Elizabeth Freeman . Although Ashley asked her to return to his house and work for a fee, she decided to take a job as a housekeeper with her attorney Sedgwick. There she worked for the family until 1808 as senior servant and governess for the children of the Sedgwicks, whom they called Mum Bett . Agrippa Hull , who had fought in the War of Independence for years, also worked for the family at the same time .

The daughter of Freeman, Catharine Sedgwick , later became a well-known writer who, among other things, wrote down the life of her governess. After all of the Sedgwicks' children reached a certain age and no longer required care, Freeman and her daughter bought their own house in Stockbridge .

The true age of Elizabeth Freeman is not known to this day, but her estimated age is given on her tombstone as 85 years. She died in December 1829 and was buried in the Sedgwick family grave in Stockbridge. The family provided the tombstone, which has the following inscription:

“ELIZABETH FREEMAN, known by the name of MUMBET died Dec. 28th 1829. Her supposed age was 85 Years. She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years; She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal. She neither wasted time nor property. She never violated a trust, nor failed to perform a duty. In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper and the tenderest friend. Good mother, farewell. "

“ELIZABETH FREEMAN, known as MUMBET, died on December 28, 1829. Her estimated age was 85 years. She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years; she could neither read nor write, but in her own world she had no superiors or equals. She wasted no time or possessions either. She never betrayed trust and never failed in her duty. She was up to any domestic burden and an affectionate friend. Dear mother, goodbye. "

- Elizabeth Freeman's tombstone

heritage

The Elizabeth Freeman ruling was set as a precedent in the Quock Walker v. Jennison was summoned to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Quock Walker's freedom was upheld. Both court rulings formed the legal basis for the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts. Vermont had already incorporated this into the constitution at this point.

Historian WEB Du Bois claims to be related to Freeman because she married his maternal great-grandfather Jack Burghardt. However, Freeman was 20 years older than Burghardt, and there are no official documents about the alleged wedding. Possibly it was Freeman's daughter Betsy Humphrey who married Burghardt after her first husband Jonah Humphrey left her and Burghardt's first wife passed away. If so, Elizabeth Freeman would be Du Bois' step-great-great-grandmother.

Remarks

1. ↑ In some versions of this incident, Bett's sister Lizzie was the target of Hannah's attack, but there is no historical evidence that such a person actually existed.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Catharine Maria Sedgwick: Slavery in New England . In: Richard Bentley (ed.): Bentley's Miscellany . Vol. 34. London 1853, OCLC 1519526 , pp. 417-424 ( online in Google Book Search [accessed August 26, 2013]).
2. ^ ^{A b} Emilie Piper, David Levinson: One Minute a Free Woman . Elizabeth Freeman and the Struggle for Freedom. Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area, Salisbury, CT 2010, ISBN 978-0-9845492-0-7 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Ben Z. Rose: Mother of freedom . Mum Bett and the roots of abolition. TreeLine Press, Waverley, Mass. 2009, ISBN 978-0-9789123-1-4 .
4. ^ Mary Wilds: Mumbet: The Life and Times of Elizabeth Freeman . The True Story of a Slave Who Won Her Freedom. 1st edition. Avisson Press, Greensboro, NC 1999, ISBN 978-1-888105-40-7 .
5. ^ The Massachusetts Constitution, Judicial Review and Slavery. The Mum bed case. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court , accessed August 26, 2013 . 
6. ^ Gary Nash: Agrippa Hull: Revolutionary Patriot. BlackPast, accessed August 26, 2013 . 
7. ↑ Arthur Zilversmit: Quok Walker, Mumbet, and the Abolition of Slavery in Massachusetts . In: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture (Ed.): The William and Mary Quarterly (=  3. ). Vol. 25, No. 44 , October 1968, ISSN  0043-5597 , OCLC 1607858 , p. 614-624 , JSTOR : 1916801 .
8. ↑ Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bed). PBS Public Broadcasting Service, accessed August 27, 2013 . 
9. ↑ WEB Du Bois : Dusk of dawn . an essay toward an autobiography of a race concept. Transaction Books, New Brunswick 1984, ISBN 978-0-87855-917-6 .
10. ↑ David L. Lewis: WEB Du Bois . biography of a race, 1868-1919. H. Holt, New York 1993, ISBN 978-0-8050-2621-4 .

Web link

• Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman