"This is a form of acknowledgment, which is a crucial part of reparations to me," he said. He said she was a "path breaker" who played a critical role in history. "It feels like a pretty important message for any time, but especially so right now," the former governor added.Ĭlark University historian Ousmane Power-Greene has been calling for a statue to honor 'Mumbet' in Massachusetts for several years. Patrick said Freeman's actions remind him of what he says is most hopeful about Massachusetts and the U.S. "And I love that the Massachusetts courts had the integrity of purpose to take her question seriously," he said. Patrick said he loves that Freeman could imagine these powerful ideas as her own and could persuade others to test that question. Recalling Freeman's status as an enslaved woman, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said, "She was this powerless woman who was serving these relatively powerful men and listening to them and their conversation about the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and asking herself, 'What about me?'" It is a lasting lesson and a lasting legacy and a lasting honor of what she did," Patrick said, "to win freedom for so many of us who came behind."ĭiane and her husband, Deval Patrick, will speak at the unveiling along with Ambassador Theodore "Tod" Sedgwick, a descendant of the lawyer that won the suit. "For me and for my children and my grandchildren and anyone else who becomes aware of her contribution to our freedom, we have to have some monument to her. She then changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman.Ī few years later, after former slave Quock Walker won his freedom, slavery under the law ended in the state.ĭiane Patrick is part of a group that helped plan the statue. Because women had limited legal rights, he included an enslaved man, named Brom, in the lawsuit. The girl, named Lizzie, was either Freeman's sister or daughter (historians disagree.) Freeman got in between the two and was struck by Ashley, which scarred her.įreeman walked to the home of lawyer Theodore Sedgwick, one of the men who had signed the Resolves, to ask for his help to sue for her freedom. She intervened when Hannah Ashley raised a shovel from a fireplace to reprimand a young girl who was also enslaved in the house. "RESOLVED, That mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other, and have a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their lives, their liberty and property," it said.įreeman probably served the men food and drink while they wrote, and overheard them talking about the idea of freedom.Ībout ten years later, something happened that spurred her to seek her own freedom.
FREEMAN STAGE FREE
It was aimed at the British crown and declared all men are born free and equal. In 1773, on the second floor study of the Ashley house, a group of white men drafted a document called the Sheffield Resolves. As a teen, she was enslaved by John and Hannah Ashley in Sheffield, where she worked in the house. Foundations and individual donations covered the rest.Įlizabeth Freeman was first known as Bett, and later, Mumbet. The state budget earmarked $75,000 for the project. Smitty Pignatelli, D-Lenox, launched the project a year ago to honor a once-enslaved, eighteenth century Black woman, who sued for her freedom and won. A bronze statue of Elizabeth Freeman will be unveiled Sunday in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
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