Freeman, Elizabeth (1742?-1829), was one of the first African American slaves to win her freedom through a lawsuit. Her case, called Brom & Bett v. Ashley, set a precedent for future cases and played a role in bringing an end to slavery in Massachusetts .
Freeman is believed to have been born around 1742 in Claverack, New York. Her parents were slaves. She was called Bett, but did not have a last name for most of her life. At some time in the 1740’s or 1750’s, John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, became her owner. She was probably either sold to Ashley or inherited through his wife, who was the daughter of Bett’s former New York owner. Bett later had a daughter, Betsy, who was known as “Little Bett.” Bett’s husband is believed to have been killed while fighting in the American Revolution (1775-1783).
One day, while trying to shield another female slave from an attack by their mistress, Bett was struck with a hot kitchen shovel. She was scarred in the attack. According to some later accounts, Bett left the Ashley home and refused to return. In 1781, she sought out Theodore Sedgwick, an attorney who lived nearby in Sheffield. Bett asked for Sedgwick’s help to sue for her freedom. She had heard people in the Ashley home speaking about the Bill of rights and the new 1780 Massachusetts Constitution. Bett believed that if all people were born free and equal, then the laws must apply to slaves as well. Sedgwick agreed to take the case. A man called Brom, another slave of the Ashley family, joined in the lawsuit.
The case was argued before a county court. The jury ruled in favor of Bett and Brom, making them the first enslaved African Americans to be freed based on the right to freedom recognized in the Massachusetts Constitution. Ashley was also ordered to pay Bett and Brom 30 shillings and legal costs.
Upon being freed, Bett took the name Elizabeth Freeman. After Freeman won her case, Ashley asked her to return to his house to work for wages. She chose instead to work in the Sedgwick household. A few years later, she moved with the family to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Sedgwick children thought of Freeman as a substitute mother and gave her the nickname “Mumbet.” Freeman worked in the Sedgwick household until 1808, when the children were grown. One of the Sedgwick children included Catharine Sedgwick, who became a well-known author. Sedgwick wrote of the life of “Mumbet” in her essay Slavery in New England (1853). Freeman later bought a house in Stockbridge and moved there with her daughter. Freeman died on Dec. 28, 1829.
