Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman 

(Today is the last day of Black History Month & tomorrow is the 1st day of Womens’ History Month. Here’s a person who fits into both. She is also a very important figure in Massachusetts history.)

Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman was born into slavery in 1742. She was owned by the Ashleys, a prominent family in Sheffield, MA. Col. John Ashley was a lawyer & an important man in the community. His wife Hannah had a violent temper & once struck Mum Bett with a hot shovel when she tried to keep Hannah from striking her daughter Betsy. She left the would uncovered as evidence of her bad treatment.

While working in the Ashley house, Mum Bett was exposed some of the most important political ideas of the time. She heard readings of the Declaration of the Declaration of Independence & the new Massachusetts State Constitution. Both of these documents stated that all men are created free & equal. This gave Mum Bett the idea to sue for her freedom.

She sought the assistance of lawyers Theodore Sedgwick of Stockbridge, MA & Tapping Reeve to plead her case. The case was tried in Great Barrington, MA & the jury ruled that under the state constitution, Mum Bett was a free woman. This decision led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.

After winning her freedom, Mum Bett took the name of Elizabeth Freeman. She spent many years working as a governess to the children of Theodore Sedgwick. Because Mrs. Sedgwick suffered from depression & was somewhat of an absent mother, Elizabeth became a substitute mother to the Sedgwick children.

When she died in 1829, she was buried in the Sedgwick family plot (also known as the Sedgwick Pie) in the Stockbridge Cemetery. Her gravestone, erected by the Sedgwicks, reads:

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 truth, 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.