Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) Sues for Freedom Using Massachusetts Constitution

Elizabeth Freeman, known as Mum Bett, was enslaved in Sheffield, Massachusetts. After being struck by her enslaver's wife, she approached attorney Theodore Sedgwick. He argued that the Massachusetts Constitution's declaration of universal freedom applied to her. The court agreed; Freeman was freed and awarded nominal damages. She took the surname Freeman, worked as a paid servant for the Sedgwicks, and became the first enslaved person in Massachusetts freed by judicial ruling under the new const