Elizabeth Freeman
Elizabeth Freeman (a.k.a. Mumbet) | |
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Portrait by Susan Anne Ridley Sedgwick, c. 1812 | |
| Born | c. 1744 |
| Died | December 28, 1829 (aged 84–85) |
| Other names | Bett, Mumbet, Mum Bett |
| Occupations | Midwife, herbalist, servant |
| Known for | Brom and Bett v. Ashley (1781), gained freedom based on constitutional right to liberty |
Elizabeth Freeman (c. 1744 – December 28, 1829), also known as Mumbet, was one of the first slaves to file and win a freedom suit in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, ruling in Freeman's favor, found slavery to be inconsistent with the 1780 Constitution of Massachusetts. Her suit, Brom and Bett v. Ashley (1781), was cited in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court appellate review of Quock Walker's freedom suit. When the court upheld Walker's freedom under the state's constitution, the ruling was considered to have implicitly ended slavery in Massachusetts.
Any time, any time while I was a slave, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it—just to stand one minute on God's airth [sic] a free woman—I would.
— Elizabeth Freeman