Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett)

Hello. My name is Elizabeth Freeman, but for a long time, people called me Bett. I was born around the year 1744. When I was a little girl, I was enslaved, which meant I was not free. I lived and worked in the house of Colonel John Ashley in a town called Sheffield, Massachusetts. I worked very hard every day, but in my heart, I always dreamed of being free.

While working in the Ashley house, I heard many important conversations. Men would gather and talk about freedom from England and about what was fair. One day in 1780, I listened as they read from a brand new paper for Massachusetts. The paper said, 'All men are born free and equal.' Those powerful words stuck in my heart like a little seed of hope. I thought, if everyone was born free and equal, then shouldn't I be free, too?

One day, after a very upsetting event happened in the Ashley house, I knew I had to do something. I walked from their home to find a lawyer named Theodore Sedgwick. I told him what I had heard about everyone being 'free and equal.' I asked him if he could help me. Mr. Sedgwick was a good man and believed in those words, too. In 1781, he agreed to take my case to court. He also helped another enslaved man named Brom who wanted to be free.

We went to court in August of 1781. It was a little scary, but I knew I was doing the right thing for myself and for others. The court listened to our story and read the important words 'all men are born free and equal.' And guess what? They agreed with us. The jury said that I was a free woman. After that day, I chose a new name for myself: Elizabeth Freeman. It felt wonderful to finally be free.

After I won my freedom, I went to work for Mr. Sedgwick's family. But this time, I was paid for my work as a housekeeper and helped raise his children. My court case was very important because it helped show that slavery was wrong and against the law in Massachusetts. I lived to be about 85 years old. I am remembered as a woman who heard words of freedom and bravely fought to make them true for herself and for others.