Elizabeth Freeman

From the early 1740s to 1829, an African-American woman lived and unexpectedly became an important woman in history. Even though most people never heard of her, what she did change how people look at other African-Americans. She was born in the early 1740s to African parents, and she grew up as a slave with her sister Lizzie in Claverack, New York, which is about twenty miles south of Albany. Their owner was Pieter Hogeboom, who was the head of a wealthy Dutch-American family. In 1735, Hogeboom’s daughter Hannah married John Ashley, who was the son of one of the original proprietors permitted by the General Court of Massachusetts to organize settlements along the Housatonic River. When Hogeboom died in 1758, Lizzie and her were taken to the house of Hannah and her husband, she was about fourteen at the time. Her slave name was Bett, she was called Mum Bett in her adulthood, and eventually became Elizabeth Freeman.

About this time, John Ashley became a very important figure in Sheffield, Massachusetts, which is a large slice of western Massachusetts and would later be known as Berkshire County. In 1761, Ashley was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which in twenty years he would resign. He was known as an honorable and cautious man, “ ‘patriarchal of appearance, of middling size,’ according to an early biographical sketch” (Swan). In 1768, he signed a letter drafted by Samuel Adams, since he was a member of the Massachusetts Assembly. The letter disagreed to “several acts of Parliament, imposing Duties & Taxes on the American colonys” (Swan). With his co-workers, Ashley gave in to the governor's demand to dismiss the letter. Hannah Ashley on the other hand was known for her unpredictable temper, once throw...

... middle of paper ...

... the court costs. The brief court records do not reveal the legal arguments or evidence presented, but later Sedgewick descendants boasted that Theodore Sedgewick had invoked the Massachusetts constitution to argue that slaver could not exist in the state.

Bett chose a new name to go with her freedom, and that was Elizabeth Freeman. She left Colonel Ashley’s employ and became a paid housekeeper in the Sedgewick family, eventually raising his ten children when the mother developed a mental illness.

Works Cited

Roark, James L. "Chapter 8." The American Promise: A Compact History. Vol. 1. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 187-90. Print.

Swan, Jon. "The Slave Who Sued For Freedom." American Heritage. Vol. 41. Issue 2. Mar. 1990. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.

"The Massachusetts Constitution, Judicial Review and Slavery." Supreme Judaical Court. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.