Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman’s Declaration of Independence Online
Presented by storyteller and museum educator Tammy Denease
The "Mumbet" recorded performance is based on the true story of Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, a young enslaved woman who won her freedom in court in 1781, citing language in the Massachusetts constitution: "all men are born free and equal." Mumbet's case was a precursor to the 1783 decision that ended slavery in Massachusetts. In character as former enslaved Mumbet, storyteller Denease tells the story of a fascinating woman whose courage had an enormous impact on the lives of millions. Mumbet spent 30 years enslaved in the household of Colonel John Ashley of Sheffield, MA, before hiring a lawyer, Theodore Sedgwick, and successfully suing for her freedom in court. Once free, she took the name Elizabeth Freeman, and was employed by the Sedgwick family as a nurse, healer and midwife. Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman once said, "Anytime while I was a slave, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me, and I was told I would die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it, just to stand on God's green earth a free woman." Storyteller Denease grew up in Mississippi listening to stories told by her own great grandmother, a former enslaved person who lived to the age of 125. "It's amazing to me that living now, nearly 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation that, I personally knew — and loved dearly — someone who survived slavery," Denease says. "I draw on my great-grandmother's own life story for inspiration when portraying Mumbet."
Co-sponsored by Radnor Historical Society.
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