Elizabeth Freeman

1744 – 1829

Born into slavery and known as Bett, Elizabeth Freeman sued her enslaver, Colonel John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, after enduring violence in his household, arguing that the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution's declaration that "all men are born free and equal" made her enslavement unlawful. A Massachusetts jury ruled in her favor on August 22, 1781, in the case Brom and Bett v. Ashley, a decision credited, alongside the similar Quock Walker case, with judicially ending slavery in Massachusetts.