A bronze statue of an enslaved woman from Massachusetts who went to court to win her freedom in 1781 is being unveiled in the Berkshires this weekend
This undated image shows a painting owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society of one Elizabeth Freeman. The story of the enslaved woman who went to court to win her freedom more than 80 years before the Emancipation Proclamation has been pushed to the fringes of history. A group of civic leaders, activists and historians hope that ends Sunday, Aug.
While she toiled in bondage in the household of Col. John Ashley, he and other prominent citizens of Sheffield met to discuss their grievances about British tyranny. In 1773, they wrote in what are known as the Sheffield Resolves that “Mankind in a state of nature are equal, free, and independent of each other."
“What I love about the story is that this remarkable woman, enslaved, sometimes brutalized, unable to read, listened carefully to the conversation around the table as the men she was serving discussed the concepts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as ‘inalienable rights,'" Patrick, the state's first Black governor, said in an email. “I love that this powerless woman could imagine these powerful ideas as her own, and could persuade others to test that question.
Gwendolyn VanSant, the CEO of BRIDGE, an area nonprofit that fosters racial understanding and equity, is overseeing the scholarships. She was a healer, a nurse and a midwife, who bought her own property in nearby Stockbridge, VanSant said. “We don’t know if Elizabeth Freeman went to the church, but we know Ashley did, and it was common for enslavers to bring enslaved people to look after their children at church," said O'Brien.
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