Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey, Brainstuff. Lauren
Speaker 1: Vogelbaum here a Revolutionary War era court case, but granted
Speaker 1: an enslaved woman freedom from her cruel enslavers, a benevolent
Speaker 1: white lawyer turned employer, a name change at a crucial
Speaker 1: turning point. These are all moments in Elizabeth Freeman's life.
Speaker 1: Her story, or at least what we know of it,
Speaker 1: reads like a tale of grit and justice, ripe for Hollywood,
Speaker 1: But in reality, the circumstances of Freeman's triumph were rooted
Speaker 1: in necessity and survival. A Freeman called Bet before she
Speaker 1: chose her new Moniker was born into slavery on an
Speaker 1: unknown date in the seventeen forties, by either inheritance or purchase.
Speaker 1: Freeman was enslaved as a child by Colonel John Ashley
Speaker 1: and his wife Hannah at the Ashley House in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: Freeman did domestic work, served visitors, and dealt with the
Speaker 1: reported brutality of Hannah Ashley. But by seventeen eighty, Freeman
Speaker 1: had become aware that documents like the Declaration of Independence
Speaker 1: and the Massachusetts Constitution espoused the ideas of freedom and
Speaker 1: equality as birthrights. A freeman determined that she too was
Speaker 1: entitled to freedom by law. In the wake of other
Speaker 1: enslaved black people and abolitionists who took their claims to court,
Speaker 1: a Freeman decided to sue for her freedom. She had
Speaker 1: the help of lawyers Theodore Sedgwick and Tapping Reeve to
Speaker 1: do so. This was not a common course of action.
Speaker 1: Some enslaved people weren't aware that they could petition for
Speaker 1: their freedom and win, nor did they have the resources
Speaker 1: to do so. On top of that, challenging the law
Speaker 1: and ones enslavers could be risky and feudal. However, such
Speaker 1: freedom suits in which enslaved people filed lawsuits against their
Speaker 1: enslavers to their freedom, were not unprecedented in colonial times.
Speaker 1: Many of these suits were brought by men, and many
Speaker 1: of the claimants challenged their own enslavement rather than the
Speaker 1: entire institution of slavery. For instance, Elizabeth Key sued for
Speaker 1: her freedom in Virginia in sixteen fifty six on the
Speaker 1: basis that her father was a free white man and
Speaker 1: that she was a Christian, conditions that entitled her to
Speaker 1: freedom by English common law. Before the article. This episode
Speaker 1: is based on how stuff work spoke with Lamarchie Fraser,
Speaker 1: an artist, educator and director of Education and Interpretation at
Speaker 1: the Museum of African American History, Boston, and Nantuckett. She
Speaker 1: explained that there were many legal reasons enslaved people petitioned
Speaker 1: for freedom, and many levels of awareness about their ability
Speaker 1: to do so. A quote, maybe the enslaved petitioners haven't
Speaker 1: been manumitted, that is, set free when their contract says
Speaker 1: they should be. Maybe they should be at this point
Speaker 1: in time, earning wages for their s. There are distinct
Speaker 1: differences in cases where petitions are brought, but they are
Speaker 1: not without the knowledge that they exist. They're not existing
Speaker 1: in a vacuum. Some enslaved people found ways to organize
Speaker 1: to win their freedom. Freeman asserted that she was free
Speaker 1: according to the rules the United States politicians had enshrined
Speaker 1: in governing documents. Some of what we know today about
Speaker 1: Freeman comes from Catherine Maria Sedgwick, who was the daughter
Speaker 1: of Freeman's lawyer. Theodore Freeman helped raise her, and Catherine
Speaker 1: later wrote about Freeman's life and convictions. She quoted Freeman
Speaker 1: as saying, I'm not a dumb critter. Won't the law
Speaker 1: give me my freedom. Sedgwick went on to say about Freeman,
Speaker 1: I can imagine her upright form as she stood dilating
Speaker 1: with her fresh hope based on the declaration of her
Speaker 1: intrinsic inalienable right. Freedom. Suits were often unsuccessful, resulting in
Speaker 1: neither the emancipation of the plaintiff nor the abolition of
Speaker 1: slavery in the place where the case was brought, but some,
Speaker 1: including Freeman's, were stories of liberation. Of Freeman's lawyers decided
Speaker 1: to add Brahm, one of four other enslaved people at
Speaker 1: the Ashley estate, to the suit, making it Brahm and
Speaker 1: Bett versus Ashley. A Freeman may have sought Sedgwick's help
Speaker 1: since he visited the Ashley house, or Sedgwick and Reeve
Speaker 1: may have pursued Freeman and Brahm in order to test
Speaker 1: whether slavery was legal in Massachusetts under the new state constitution.
Speaker 1: Either way, Sedgwick got a writ of replevin, which is
Speaker 1: an order authorizing the retaking of property by its rightful owner,
Speaker 1: from the court, ordering John Ashley to release Freeman and
Speaker 1: Brahm because they were not his property. Ashley refused to
Speaker 1: release them and was ordered to appear in court on
Speaker 1: August twenty first of seventeen eighty one, Sedgwick and Reeve
Speaker 1: argued before the court that slavery was unconstitutional because the
Speaker 1: Massachusetts Constitute stated that all men are born free and equal.
Speaker 1: The next day, the jury determined that Brahm and Freeman
Speaker 1: should be emancipated. The two were awarded thirty shillings in damages,
Speaker 1: and Ashley had to pay the court costs. Freeman, upon
Speaker 1: her victory, took her new name, an assertation of her
Speaker 1: newfound independence. The outcome of this case and one other
Speaker 1: that year showed that the legal and moral foundations of
Speaker 1: the institution of slavery were disintegrating. These cases marked the
Speaker 1: beginning of the end of slavery in Massachusetts. According to
Speaker 1: seventeen ninety census, no enslaved people lived in the state.
Speaker 1: That said, the state constitution was not amended to outlaw slavery,
Speaker 1: and people remained in bondage as chattel. Slavery became obsolete
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. Freeman went on to work for the Sedgwicks,
Speaker 1: providing her services in the household and community as a servant, midwife,
Speaker 1: and governess, and, in a reversal almost too improbable for
Speaker 1: a third act, the Freeman became one of the first
Speaker 1: women in Massachusetts to own property herself. She bought a
Speaker 1: home and land of her own, amassing enough wealth and
Speaker 1: property to create a will a couple of months before
Speaker 1: she died in December of eighteen twenty nine at the
Speaker 1: age of about eighty five. The items that she owned
Speaker 1: and chose to pass down, the shawls, gowns, earrings, quilts, spoons,
Speaker 1: and gold beads, among other objects, tell a story about
Speaker 1: her character and what she valued. Despite the lack of
Speaker 1: autobiographical accounts of Freeman's life, Fraser said, as we see
Speaker 1: her life unfolded in the ways that are accessible to us,
Speaker 1: and we find a woman who is not deterred from
Speaker 1: her honesty, her truth, and her will to be free.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article how Enslaved Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Freeman mum Bett Sued for her Freedom and one on
Speaker 1: Housetofwork dot com, written by Eve's Jeff Cope. Brainstuff is
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and
Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler klang A. Four more podcasts to
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