Freeman was born enslaved during the mid-18th century in upstate New York before finding her way to Southern Berkshire County, where she lived in Sheffield as the property of the Ashley family. In 1781, she took a stand for freedom alongside another enslaved person, changing the course of history.
“What Elizabeth Freeman is significant for is she's really the first enslaved person to set legal precedent using the Massachusetts Constitution to say that slavery is incompatible with the new the new state," explained Kerri Greenidge, an Associate Professor of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora studies at Tufts University.
Freeman and her legal team drew on the commonwealth’s constitution ratified just a year prior to make their case, successfully convincing a Great Barrington jury to grant her and a fellow enslaved person named in the suit freedom.
“She's also significant because we know that after her enslavement, she lives for another almost 40, 50 years, she purchased land, she became the largest Black female land owner in the Berkshires, she ended up having children and grandchildren and great grandchildren who became part of the Black community in the Berkshires and also in Connecticut and Central Massachusetts," Greenidge continued. "And so, her story really provides us with a glimpse into the lives and the possibilities of African American and African descended people in New England and their direct contribution to the end of slavery in the region.”
August 21st is now celebrated as Elizabeth Freeman Day in Massachusetts. Berkshire County’s 24/7 domestic abuse and rape crisis center, the Elizabeth Freeman Center, is named in her honor.
Claire Vail works for American Ancestors, the Boston-based national center for family history, heritage, and culture that identified Freeman’s descendant.
“We launched the 10 Million Names project last year," she told WAMC. "The 10 Million Names Project is an initiative to find the estimated 10 million men, women and children of African descent who were enslaved in what is now the United States- So, between the late 1500s and 1865.”
Through the work of genealogists, the project tracked down Lisa Shepperson of Richmond, Virginia. Sitting with WAMC in the historic Ashley House on the day dedicated to her ancestor, she reflected on Freeman’s journey out of enslavement.
“At first, it was real sad for me at first to think of the abuse that was done here in this particular location, and the floors and everything, and original some of the original things here, but history is what history is, and you have to learn from it," she told WAMC. "You have to grow from it and push forward from it. So, for me, it was a learning experience. It was an emotional experience. It was, I don't know, I just am in awe of it, just that my feet are touching the same floor that she walked on. I’m in awe of it, really.”
Shepperson knew nothing about Freeman before being contacted by American Ancestors, but says the more she learned about her, clear lines of connection formed.
“Why I'm so vocal, that's what comes that comes to mind," she laughed. "I guess it's genetics. There's a lot of things that circle around in my mind about what comes to mind, and she, and how she left, and how she made a stand, and how she walked. I am, I'm her, I am her, I am, I'm her all over again, and it's hard to even think about it, but when I read about her, I feel like I'm very much connected to her. As a caregiver, as a healing person, I work with patients, I'm a certified nurse's assistant. So, I help people all day.”
She got the news while grieving the loss of her mother Margaret last spring.
“Margaret Elaine Baldwin Howard," said Shepperson. "She married my stepdad, Jesse Howard, and she became free. She freed herself from my dad, my biological father. He wasn't really great to her. He loved her, but his love is way different than the love that we know of.”
WAMC asked Shepperson what she would share with her mother if she could join her in the Berkshires to learn about Freeman’s life and legacy.
“If she were actually physically here, because she is spiritually here, if she was physically here, I would just say, Mommy, would you, what do you think of it all?" she answered. "I would ask her opinion, because I'm always, I always ask her. I always ask her. I asked her, should I come here? Should I pursue this? And she said to me, in my spirit, yes. So physically, I think she knew that she would be excited and happy to know that her ancestor broke free the same way she broke free.”
She’s decided to refer to her newfound progenitor as Grandmother Freeman, and says she’s been able to spiritually connect with her while in her former home, including at her graveside in nearby Stockbridge.
“I feel like the modern-day people need to stand up for what is right and not allow people to bear down or burden them down with things that may put them in slavery, slavery in their mentality and in their spirit, because there's other ways of being a slave other than being bonded at a place," said Shepperson. "You can be a slave in your job, you can be a slave to a people, you can be a slave to other things that you're a part of.”
It was not lost on Shepperson that she was exploring her connection to one of the most influential Black women in American history as another Black woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, is being celebrated as the Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s national convention in Chicago.
“It feels like that the future is pushing hard forward, and we are going somewhere," she told WAMC. "We're going somewhere as a Black person, as a Black community, as Black people, and it's not only about race. You have to have a spirit inside that wants to push forward and not be bound. Not being bound is the most important part. And like I said, in your mind, people are bound still in their mind. People want to dictate what you do, and you shouldn't allow it. You shouldn't allow it. We come this far by faith. You should not allow it.”
The Ashley House in Sheffield is now a historical center maintained by the Trustees of the Reservations, and offers year-round programming and historical resources on the life and legacy of Elizabeth Freeman. The town erected a bronze statue of Freeman in the center of Sheffield in 2022.
