Elizabeth Freeman wins freedom
Choose a PDF, read on screen, and try the word game.
Choose your PDF reading
All four include an image, vocabulary, comprehension questions, a follow-up reading, and teacher guidance. These English PDFs have selectable text; use the reading below for adjustable text and listening tools.
Read on this page
Words to know
- freedom
- the ability to live and act without unjust control
- court
- a place or group that decides legal cases
- rights
- freedoms and protections people are entitled to
An enslaved woman known as Bett went to court with a man named Brom. They challenged their enslavement and won. Bett later used the name Elizabeth Freeman. Her action helped challenge slavery in Massachusetts.
Talk about the reading
What happened? Point to a detail that supports your answer. What does the picture help you understand? What would you like to investigate next?
Follow-up: Quock Walker and the constitution
Quock Walker sought freedom through the courts. His cases helped challenge slavery. In 1783, Chief Justice William Cushing explained that slavery conflicted with the state constitution. People used the language of rights to demand change.
How are the two events connected or different? Their order does not prove that one caused the other.
Read the follow-up event →Word match: use the reading
Select a word, then select its meaning. You can use a keyboard or tap. Read the word bank if you need a clue.
Choose a word to begin.
Check the evidence
Research source for this event ↗
Susan Anne Livingston Ridley Sedgwick / Massachusetts Historical Society, public domain. Image source and rights ↗
Historical images, later portraits, reconstructions, and modern topic illustrations are identified in their captions. They are different kinds of evidence.
Try a source investigationVisit a Massachusetts place
Try a source investigation