STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Lisa Shepperson fluttered her eyelashes to stop her tears as she stood at the faded tombstone of Elizabeth Freeman on Monday morning. She patted the centuries-old tablet with her manicured hand, as if comforting a longtime friend.
It was the first time she saw the burial site of her ancestor at Stockbridge Cemetery. It was only three months ago that Shepperson found out she was a direct descendant of the formerly enslaved woman whose lawsuit for her freedom in 1781, helped propel Massachusetts to abolish slavery in the state.
Before then, she had not heard of Freeman until that unexpected call from a genealogist. But now, standing there, Shepperson said she could not help but feel a wave of joy rush “past my feet, to my heart, to my head, and out towards God.”