Basic Black

Elizabeth Freeman is not a household name, at least not yet. There’s no talk about putting her on a 20- dollar bill or a postage stamp but she did a brave act. As an enslaved woman who could not read or write in the late 1700s, she decided to take a bold step to gain her freedom. She went to court in 1781 and brought forth a lawsuit—a freedom suit—to win her right to be free. She won her case and became the first enslaved African American woman in Massachusetts to do so, ruling that slavery was illegal based on the state’s 1780 constitution. She was called “Mum Bett” or “Bett,” but after winning her freedom, she chose to call herself Elizabeth Freeman. Her case was significant because it helped set a legal precedent in another freedom suit and thereby ending slavery in Massachusetts.

Guests

L’Merchie Frazier, a Visual Activist and Director of Education for the Museum of African American

History in Boston and Nantucket.

Sophia Hall is the Deputy Litigation Director for Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston.

and Kyera Singleton, Executive Director of the Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford

Callie Crossley Hosts.

Elizabeth “Mum Bet" Freeman and Her Fight/Triumph for Freedom 26:44 Share

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Elizabeth “Mum Bet" Freeman and Her Fight/Triumph for Freedom