![]() They did not want to leave the British laws or the king’s appointees in place. Early in the Revolution, Massachusetts wrote John Adams and asked how the colony should be governed. In 1780, at approximately 36 years old, MumBet was a slave in Colonel John Ashley’s house in Sheffield. Sedgwick writes of the outstanding events in MumBet’s life - or the events in an outstanding life. In her article “Slavery in New England,” published in Bentley’s Miscellany in 1853, Catharine Sedgwick fills in the middle. In the end, Elizabeth Freeman was revered in the beginning, MumBet was treated as less than human - a possession. Good mother, farewell.” (Attributed to Catharine Sedgwick.) In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper and the tenderest friend. She never violated a trust, nor failed to perform a duty. She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years she could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal. Her tombstone reads: “Elizabeth Freeman, also known by the name of MumBet died December 28th 1829. Lewis Carroll said, “Begin at the beginning, go on until you reach the end, then stop.” Just this once, let us begin at the end. In telling her story - from slave to free woman - we also tell the story of a place – from colony to country. Kerri Greenidge, an assistant professor of Race, Colonialism and Diaspora, also at Tufts, said for all these reasons it is important to find different historical sources that might reveal a truth of the Black experience.This is the story of a woman. Kendra Field, associate professor of history at Tufts University and historical advisor to the Du Bois Center, said historical figures in New England like Freeman and Du Bois can be “plucked out of context.”ĭr. Frances Jones-Sneed, professor emeritus at MCLA, suggesting the question is one that needs asking when evaluating a narrative.Īnd Dr. “Who are these things written for?” said historian Dr. In this case, Freeman’s story, like other historical figures, flows through a record written from outside her own community, the panelists said. “There are ways to honor her and think about her role here that can coexist with information that we don’t know,” Edelstein, said, noting that we don’t, for instance, know how much the Sedgwicks paid Freeman. It also involves “silences” of the oppressed, and can create a false narrative of even the most celebrated historical figure. ![]() “We don’t really have Mum Bett’s interiority,” Edelstein said, using Freeman’s enslaved name, “Bett,” with the “Mum” added by the Sedgwicks.īlack history often is told from a white perspective. A jury decided in her favor, and she changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman and went to work as a paid servant at Sedgwick’s home in Stockbridge. John Ashley, before attorney Theodore Sedgwick helped her sue for her freedom. Sheffield is where Freeman had been enslaved in the home of Col. Du Bois Center for Freedom and Democracy, kicked off a weekend of separate events to both celebrate and reflect on Freeman’s Legacy, ending with the dedication Sunday of a bronze monument to Freeman on the Sheffield Green. The event at Dewey Hall, hosted by the W.E.B. Freeman’s story, Edelstein said, doesn’t “always end with a rosy picture of freedom.”
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