Story Of Mum Bett At The Stephentown Historical Society

Authors David Levinson and Emilie Piper will tell of Elizabeth Freeman, also known as Mum Bett, at the Stephentown Historical Society meeting on Monday, September 13, at 7:30 pm.  The meeting will be at the Stephentown Fire Hall on Grange Hall Road, Stephentown.  It is free and open to the public. The building is air-conditioned and handicapped accessible.  For directions or information, phone 518-733-5675.
Freeman is an icon of African-American history – the woman who sued her Sheffield master for  freedom from slavery and won her liberty in 1781.  Her case helped end slavery in Massachusetts.  Elizabeth was born in slavery in Claverack, NY.  She and her sister, then tiny children, were purchased by Colonel Ashley of Sheffield, MA, around 1744. She worked in the Ashley household for about forty years.  When Mistress Ashley struck her in the head with shovel, she left the household and refused to return. She sought help from abolitionist lawyer Theodore Sedgwick, who took her case and won her freedom.  Elizabeth soon after began working as housekeeper for the Sedgwick family, whose children fondly called her “Mum Bett.” She was an accomplished nurse and midwife and eventually left the employ of the Sedgwicks and purchased a farm. She died in 1829, leaving a will documenting her household possessions.
Emilie Piper is a research librarian at the Berkshire Athenaeum’s history department. She had gathered material on Freeman and her community for an article, then joined David Levinson, editor of “African American Heritage in the Upper Housatonic Valley,” to research and create a book, “One Minute a Free Woman – Elizabeth Freeman and the Struggle for Freedom,” which cuts through the folklore and reveals a complex life in the early days of America’s history. They will tell of Elizabeth Freeman and the research that went into their book.