SHEFFIELD, Mass. — Just four months ago, Lisa Shepperson had never heard of Elizabeth Freeman.
But this spring, she learned that Freeman was not only her ancestor, but the first African American woman in Massachusetts to successfully file a lawsuit for her freedom. What’s more, Shepperson learned that she was Freeman’s first living descendant who genealogists and historians had been able to identify.
“I am standing here, the ninth generation of Elizabeth Freeman, with graciousness and humbleness,” Shepperson said Wednesday morning from the grounds of Ashley House, where Freeman was enslaved. It’s also the location, where Freeman overheard Col. John Ashley and other prominent men discussing the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution — that declared “all men are born free and equal” — which started her pursuit of freedom.