Elizabeth Freeman
This miniature watercolor (3.5 cm x 5.5 cm) shows the face and upper torso of Elizabeth Freeman (c.1744-1829), also known as Bet or Mama Bet. It remains unclear if Freemen was African, or born in New York state of African parents. She was purchased when young and became a servant in a Massachusetts household. After an incident of maltreatment, she left her owner and enlisted the aid of a Massachusetts antislavery lawyer, Thomas Sedgwick. She was the first enslaved African American to file and win a freedom suit in Massachusetts in 1781. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling, in Freeman's favor, found slavery to be inconsistent with the 1780 Massachusetts State Constitution. She died in 1829 and was buried in a segregated section of the Stockbridge, Massachusetts graveyard. Her portrait was painted by Susan Sedgwick, Thomas's daughter. For biographical details on Freeman's life, see Harriet Martineau, Retrospect of Western Travel (New York, 1838), vol. 2, pp. 104-10.
Image Title
Elizabeth Freeman
RegID
SI-OB-1098
Date
1811
Title
Elizabeth Freeman
Source
Miniature portrait held in the Massachusetts Historical Society
Language
English
Item sets
Portraits & Illustrations of Individuals
Spatial Coverage
North America--Massachusetts
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Identifier
I021