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Classroom · Grades 5–12

Elizabeth Freeman

Elizabeth Freeman showed that the Revolution’s language of natural rights could be turned into a legal claim to freedom by the people slavery excluded.

Lesson at a Glance

Grades
Grades 5–12
Time
One class period (20–40 minutes)
Standards
NCSS Themes 2 (Time, Continuity, and Change), 6 (Power, Authority, and Governance), and 10 (Civic Ideals and Practices); C3 D2.Civ.14.6-8, D2.His.1.6-8
Reading
Elizabeth Freeman (profile)

Big Idea

Elizabeth Freeman showed that the Revolution’s language of natural rights could be turned into a legal claim to freedom by the people slavery excluded.

Before Class

Students read the profile of Elizabeth Freeman, including the Key Dates and Sources.

Discussion Questions

  1. The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 declared all men born free and equal. Why do you think its authors did not immediately end slavery, and what did it take for Freeman to test the words?
  2. Freeman could not read or write, and everything we know of her words comes through the Sedgwick family. How should historians handle a life documented mainly by others?
  3. Why did her lawyers choose a writ of replevin, an action about property, to argue that a person could not be property?
  4. A county jury verdict did not by itself end slavery in Massachusetts. What combination of forces did, according to the profile and its sources?

Activity

Students read Article I of the 1780 Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and underline the words Freeman is said to have claimed for herself. In pairs (20–30 minutes), they draft the argument Theodore Sedgwick and Tapping Reeve might have made to the Great Barrington jury in August 1781, using only the constitution’s text and facts from the profile, then draft John Ashley’s likely reply. The class discusses why the jury’s verdict mattered even though it came from a county court, and compares Freeman’s strategy with the Declaration of Independence’s language of equality.

Primary Sources

Cite this page
MLA
“Classroom lesson: Elizabeth Freeman.” Black-History.com, 30 Sept. 2026, https://black-history.com/classroom/elizabeth-freeman/.
APA
Black-History.com Editors. (2026, September 30). Classroom lesson: Elizabeth Freeman. Black-History.com. https://black-history.com/classroom/elizabeth-freeman/
Chicago
Black-History.com Editors. “Classroom lesson: Elizabeth Freeman.” Black-History.com. September 30, 2026. https://black-history.com/classroom/elizabeth-freeman/.
Editorial Note

By the Black-History.com editors. Last reviewed 30 September 2026. To suggest a primary source or a correction, write to editors@black-history.com or use our corrections form.

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