Elizabeth Freeman (“Mumbet”)
Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick, Elizabeth Freeman (“Mumbet”), 1811. Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
This video was created by The New York Historical Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project.
Telling the story of Elizabeth Freeman’s life is challenging. She was a key player in one of the most important legal cases of the American Revolution. But she never learned to read or write, so she left no record of her motivations or how she felt about the events of her life. The most famous account of her life was written by one of her former employers, and it is highly unlikely that Elizabeth shared her innermost thoughts with the author. Regardless of these challenges, one fact shines through: Elizabeth Freeman’s choices changed the history of slavery in the United States.
Elizabeth was born into slavery in a small town in the New York colony around the year 1744. Her enslaver was a man named Peter Hogeboom, a descendant of the original Dutch settlers who first moved to the area in the 1600s. Peter’s family called her Elizabeth Bett.
As an enslaved person, Elizabeth had no control over her own life. She and her sister were very young when they were sent to live with Peter’s daughter Hannah. Hannah had married and moved away years before either Elizabeth or her sister was born, so neither girl knew her. Regardless of their feelings, Elizabeth and her sister were forced to move and start a new life of servitude in Sheffield, Massachusetts. The town was thirty-four miles away from everything and everyone they had ever known.
Elizabeth and her sister were domestic servants in Hannah’s household. They were responsible for doing the hard labor of keeping the home running smoothly. They looked after her four children, did the cooking and cleaning, and tended to the family garden. This kind of work was very physically demanding and never let up.
Hannah was married to John Ashley, one of the most important leaders in western Massachusetts. He was a prosperous landowner, a decorated war hero, a representative in the colonial legislature, and a local judge. But life in his household was not easy. Hannah had a bad temper. Elizabeth was once hit with a hot coal shovel while trying to protect her sister from Hannah’s anger. She bore an ugly scar on her arm for the rest of her life.
Around the year 1765 Elizabeth gave birth to a baby girl, whom she also named Elizabeth. Elizabeth never revealed the name of her baby’s father. Later in life she told people that he was killed in the American Revolution, but she never identified him. It is difficult to know what to make of this. Enslaved women were vulnerable to sexual abuse, so it is possible that Elizabeth kept his name a secret because the baby was the result of a traumatic experience. It is also possible that Elizabeth’s relationship with the man was consensual, but she feared that if the father’s identity was discovered he might be in trouble with the law. Regardless, little Elizabeth, as the daughter of an enslaved woman, grew up enslaved in the Ashley household.
John Ashley played a central role in the political life of western Massachusetts. In the lead-up to the American Revolution, all the most powerful men in the area gathered at the Ashley home to discuss the events of the day and debate the appropriate response. On January 12, 1773 they took a daring stand by publishing the Sheffield Declaration in the Massachusetts Spy. The first resolution of their declaration stated “that mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other,” an idea that would appear in the Declaration of Independence three years later.
Elizabeth had plenty of opportunities to overhear the discussions of the men who drafted the Sheffield Declaration. Like many other enslaved people, she was probably inspired by the idea that all people were born equal and hoped that it would be applied to her. Many enslaved people in the thirteen colonies realized that the ideals of the American Revolution created an opportunity for enslaved people to assert their independence from those who enslaved them. But they also knew that they needed to wait for the right opportunity, because enslavers were likely to put up a fight and if the enslaved people lost they might never be free.
Elizabeth attended a public reading of the new constitution, where she heard the words enshrined in the document’s very first article: “All men are born free and equal.”
Seven years passed before Elizabeth found her opportunity. On June 15, 1780 Massachusetts adopted its state constitution. Elizabeth attended a public reading of the new constitution, where she heard the words enshrined in the document’s very first article: “All men are born free and equal.” Unlike the Sheffield Declaration or the Declaration of Independence, which were public statements of the principles motivating the American Revolution, the Massachusetts Constitution was a legal document, and its very first article asserted freedom and equality for all. This idea was now the law of the land in Massachusetts, and Elizabeth knew that the time was right to try for her freedom.
Elizabeth asked Theodore Sedgwick to represent her in court. Theodore was a young lawyer who had participated in the meetings that led to the Sheffield Declaration years before. He agreed to help her because he thought it was a good chance to challenge slavery under the new state constitution. Theodore added a second person enslaved in the Ashley household, a man named Brom, to the case. Historians think he did this to make sure the case wasn’t dismissed simply because Elizabeth was a woman.
Theodore and his partner argued that Elizabeth and Brom could not be slaves because of the new state constitution. Ashley’s lawyers argued that Elizabeth and Brom had been his property long before the constitution was passed. The courts sided with Elizabeth and Brom, agreeing that according to the state constitution they had always been free. The court ordered Ashley to pay them a thirty-shilling fee and all their trial costs to make up for enslaving them. Ashley appealed the decision but dropped his case when two other freedom trials were decided in the same way, signaling that the practice of slavery was officially unconstitutional in the state of Massachusetts.
In the wake of her victory, Elizabeth changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman and gave her daughter the same last name. John Ashley offered to pay her to continue working for his family, but she declined. Instead, she took a job as a paid domestic servant for Theodore Sedgwick, possibly because she was thankful for the great service he had rendered her.
Elizabeth became a beloved member of the Sedgwick household. Most of what we know about Elizabeth comes from the writings of Theodore’s daughter, Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Catherine became a famous author. In 1853 she published an essay called “Slavery in New England,” which tells the story of Elizabeth Freeman’s life. She describes Elizabeth’s experiences with the cruelties of slavery and the triumph of her trial (with her father as the hero, of course). It is through Catharine that we know that the Sedgwick family did not use Elizabeth’s chosen name, but Instead called her Mumbet, short for “Mother Beth.” Elizabeth worked for the Sedgwick family for many years, keeping their home, caring for their children, and occasionally protecting them from harm. Catharine fondly recalls when Elizabeth saved the family silver from marauders during Shay’s Rebellion by hiding it in her own trunk and then tricking the men into not searching it by mocking them for wanting the belongings of a Black woman. Catharine remembers this as an example of Elizabeth’s quick wit and nerves of steel, but the episode also reveals that Elizabeth knew racism was still widespread in her community, whether she was free or not.
When Elizabeth had saved enough money, she bought her own home and lived there for the rest of her days. When she passed away on December 28, 1829 the Sedgwick family buried her in their family plot with a marble tombstone. She was the only Black servant honored this way by the Sedgwick family.
Vocabulary
- domestic servant: A person who works in the home.
- Shay’s Rebellion: An uprising that took place in western Massachusetts after the end of the American Revolution. The participants wanted to stop the Massachusetts courts from repossessing farms that were in debt. This is considered one of the reasons the new US Constitution was drafted.
- shilling: A British coin.
Discussion Questions
- Why is Elizabeth Freeman’s trial a significant moment in American history?
- What challenges do historians face when trying to learn about Elizabeth Freeman’s life?
- Why did Elizabeth Freeman’s lawyer believe it was necessary to add an enslaved man to her court case?
- What was the basis of Elizabeth Freeman’s court case? Why was this a persuasive argument in Massachusetts in 1781?
Suggested Activities
- APUSH Connection: 3.5: American Revolution
- AP Government Connection: 1.4: Challenges of the Articles of Confederation
- Much of what historians know about Elizabeth Freeman comes from the essay “Slavery in New England” by Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Invite students to read and interrogate that source, and discuss what it reveals about the world Elizabeth Freeman lived in.
- Elizabeth Freeman and Phillis Wheatley were both enslaved women in Massachusetts who demanded that the ideals of the American Revolution be applied to them. Ask students to imagine that these women were able to hold a meeting to discuss their circumstances, just like John Ashley and his colleagues. What would the women say? What kind of declaration might they draft?
- For a lesson about how enslaved women responded to the outbreak of the American Revolution, pair this life story with any or all of the following:
Themes
AMERICAN IDENTITY AND CITIZENSHIP; POWER AND POLITICS
The New York Historical Curriculum Library Connections
- For resources relating to the American Revolution in New York, see The Battle of Brooklyn.
