American Revolution Biographies | Elizabeth Freeman Biography

Born c. 1744
Died December 1829
Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Slave, nurse, midwife

Elizabeth Freeman, who lived as a slave for thirty years, was known for her courage, wit, kindness, dignity, and intelligence. Her 1781 victory in obtaining freedom from slavery played a large part in putting an end to slavery in the state of Massachusetts.

Freeman was born around 1744, possibly on the estate of Pieter Hogeboom of Claverack, New York; this approximate birth date is based on the fact that she was said to have been about eighty-five years old when she died in 1829. Being a slave, she was not given a last name at birth. Known for most of her life as Mum Bett or Mumbet, a name that apparently came from Elizabeth, she adopted the last name Freeman upon being freed from slavery. Freeman and her sister lived as slaves on Hogeboom's estate. Around 1758 Hogeboom died, and the two...