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Inspirational Stories of Women
Who Made a Difference!
February 2008
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Welcome to History's
Women!
In honor of Black History Month, in this eNews we take a
look at the courageous Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, a slave who
sued for her freedom in 1781. Thanks to Anne Adams, author
of
First of All, a Wife: Sketches of American First Ladies
for this vingette.
Enjoy the
issue!
Patti
If you have trouble reading
this issue, you can view it
online.
MEMORABLE QUOTE
“Anytime I was
a slave, if one minute’s freedom had been offered to me, and I had
been told that I must die at the end of that minute, I would have
taken it just to stand one minute on God’s earth a free woman.”
~Elizabeth Freeman
Social Reformers
 Elizabeth
“Mumbet” Freeman
The Slave Who Sued for her Freedom
By Anne Adams
When Theodore
Sedgwick brought the case of Bett & Brom Vs. Ashley in a
Massachusetts court in 1781 it would be a momentous suit, not
just because of the litigants but also for the issue it raised.
Momentous because “Bett” and “Brom” were slaves, suing for their
freedom and all because Bet wanted to experience the freedom she
had heard so much about.
Elizabeth
Freeman – also known as “Bet” or “Mammy Bett” or more frequently
“Mumbet” – was born into slavery, the property of a New York man
named Pieter Hogeboom. She was born in 1742. Or 1732. Or 1751.
The date was uncertain because no one considered it important to
record the birth of a slave child. In Bet’s case the only clue
to her actual age was that when she died in 1829 her tombstone
noted that she was “about 85” and that she had been a slave “for
nearly 30 years.”
At Hogeboom’s
death in 1758, Bet and her younger sister Lizzy were transferred
to the ownership of John Ashley, Hogeboom a son-in-law. Their
new home was in Sheffield, Massachusetts and there the children
grew up and Bet married another Ashley servant. Her husband
joined the Continental army to fight in the American Revolution,
and was killed in combat, leaving Bet a widow with a small
child.
Back at home,
Ashley was known as a kind master but Mrs. Ashley was a
small-minded bully who beat her servants for the slightest
infraction. Once when she caught Lizzie nibbling at some
leftover bread dough, she accused the youngster of “stealing”
food, then grabbed a hot fireplace tool and swung it at her. Bet
sprang forward to block the coming blow and the shovel smashed
into her arm. She bore the scar for the rest of her life.
Under such
harsh punishment some slaves would have run away, but Bet did
not and that meant she was in the right place at the right time
to hear what would change her life.
For several
years new ideas of freedom of the individual were circulating in
the American colonies and as a prominent and influential
community leader, Col. Ashley took an interest and then a major
role in the implementation of these new concepts.
In 1773 he
was the chairman of a committee that drew up what became known
as the Sheffield Declaration. It declared: “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.” One of the committee that met in the
Ashley home was a young lawyer named Theodore Sedgwick.
Yet as they
met in the Ashley home there was someone not on the committee
who listened carefully. Whether serving food or drinks in the
background or listening from behind the kitchen door, Bet could
not ignore her inward pining for the freedom that she heard
about. She renewed her interest when several years later the
Ashley home was again the center of discussion about the
ratification of the new Massachusetts Constitution in 1780.
Again she hard the words: ”all men are born free and equal, and
have certain natural, essential, and inalienable rights. …” and
the familiar longings arose again. Freedom? Could that apply to
her? Surely Col. Ashley would know.
When
confronted with his servant’s question, Ashley was perhaps
surprised, but he responded gently. No, he told her, all that
talk about freedom didn’t apply to slaves.
Perhaps torn
between her respect for her master, and her own longings, Bet
could not reconcile them. Though she admired and respected
Ashley, the idea of freedom was haunting. She’d heard that the
soldiers in the Continental Army fighting in the Revolution –
like her husband – were fighting and even dying for freedom, so
didn’t that mean that she could be free? It was certainly a
puzzle and Bet wanted an answer.
So she packed
her few belongings, and clutching her child, left the Ashley
home and appeared on the doorstep of Theodore Sedgwick with her
question.
Why couldn’t
she be free? How could a state that proclaimed, “All men are
born free and equal” allow slavery, a condition totally contrary
to the concept of freedom. Sedgwick came to believe it was worth
pursuing. He agreed to take her case and to file a lawsuit to
secure her freedom.
Actually a
few slaves had sued for their freedom but these were based on
personal situations. For example, in one case the slave had
attained freedom because his mother had been born free and in
another the master had promised freedom but reneged. However,
Sedgwick planned a suit that was would challenge the legality of
slavery itself.
The new state
constitution that had declared freedom and equality for its
citizens had only been in effect a few months when Sedgwick
filed against his friend Ashley a “writ of replevin,” a legal
devise used to recover property, in this case Bet. Ashley
refused to release the “property” and the case went to trial in
August, 1781.
Naturally,
Ashley, supported by other slave owning friends, retained the
best counsel he could but he was fighting against popular
opinion since slavery was becoming unpopular. A later writer
who had visited with Sedgwick outlined in his book the basis of
the legal strategy in the case. It had under two points: “’(1)
That no antecedent law had established slavery, and that the
laws which seemed to suppose it were the offspring of error in
the legislators …’ and (2) That such laws, even if they had
existed, were annulled by the new Constitution.’”
The jury found for Sedgwick’s clients and Bet and Brom, another
slave who was included in the suit, were set free. Also, Ashley
was ordered to pay each 30 shillings plus court costs.
Though this
particular case affected only Bet and Brom, it was the beginning
of the end for a system of slavery in Massachusetts.
Though what
happened to Brom is unknown, after the victory, Bet declined to
return to the Ashley household to work for wages, and instead
entered Sedgwick’s employ. She changed her name to Elizabeth
Freeman and settled in to assist with the Sedgwick children as
well as nursing their mother who struggled with physical and
mental illness. Daughter Catherine, who became a well-known
novelist and educator and who reportedly dubbed the servant “Mumbet”,
wrote of her nurse:
“One should
of known this remarkable woman, the native majesty of her
deportment: Mumbet was the only person who could tranquilize my
mother when her mind was disordered – the only one of her
friends whom she liked to have about her...”
Besides being
a caring and devoted caregiver for the Sedgwick children and
their mother, Bet proved a courageous family defender. During
the 1785 Shays’ Rebellion intruders broke into the home while
Sedgwick was away. Bet hid the family silver in her own chest of
drawers, and then courageously showed the men throughout the
house as they searched for valuables. When they came to her
chest, she identified it as her property, and urged them to
search it, with the sarcastic implication that naturally there’d
be valuables in a receptacle owned by a black servant. They left
empty-handed and the family valuables were saved.
When Bet
retired she bought her own home and continued to work locally as
a nurse and midwife. With her children and grandchildren around
her, she died in December, 1829 and was buried in the Sedgwick
family plot in Stockbridge. Her tombstone read: “ELIZABETH
FREEMAN, known by the name of MUMBET. She could neither read
nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior nor 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."
(One
interesting aspect of Bet’s life was how her intense desire of
freedom became a family tradition. Her great grandson was W.E.B.
DuBois, who was a major civil rights activist in the 20th
century.)
Catherine
Sedgwick’s article “Slavery in New England”, written in the
1850s, recounted Bet’s explanation of the meaning of personal
freedom: “Anytime I was a slave, if one minute’s freedom had
been offered to me, and I had been told that I must die at the
end of that minute, I would have taken it just to stand one
minute on God’s earth a free woman.”
Anne Adams, a freelance writer
living in Houston, Texas, is the author of a new e-book “First
of All, a Wife: Sketches of American First Ladies,” available
from
pcpublications.org. She has published in Christian and
secular publications, taught history on the junior college
level, and spoken at national and local writers' conferences.
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