This year marks the 230th anniversary of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman’s famous court case, which contributed to the legal end of slavery in Massachusetts in the 18th century. This unique (and free!) annual event will be held on Sunday, August 21, 2001 from 12Noon-4PM at Ashley House in Sheffield. This year we’ll also celebrate the opening of a brand-new exhibit on Elizabeth Freeman that has been installed on-site.
That’s why two graduate summer interns took the reigns at Ashley House, where they dusted off, re-examined, and rewrote the existing house tour. Meet Tramia Jackson from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, and Elizabeth Bradley from the UMass Amherst program in Public History. Today, we hear from Elizabeth about the project:
“Tramia and I were invited by the Trustees to create a dynamic tour to reflect recent scholarship and to complement a new Elizabeth Freeman exhibit being installed on site in August. Like the exhibit, the tour examines Freeman’s life and legacy in the context of slavery and freedom in the North. Rather than focusing exclusively on Freeman, though, the tour contrasts the perspectives of the Ashley family with those of the enslaved members of the Ashley household. Our aim was to create a provocative tour, one that illustrates how two groups of people could experience life in one house – and in one era of American History – so differently.
Our process was stimulating – and challenging! Together, Tramia and I scoured books and archives, stitching together wills, ledgers, and probate records to learn who John and Hannah Ashley, Elizabeth and Betsy Freeman, and others were and how they lived. There were surprising facts (the enslaved man Zach Mullen sued the Ashleys for abuse, but unlike Freeman’s, his case was settled out of court) and tantalizing mysteries (Why did the daughter Hannah Ashley die nineteen days after her wedding?) There were also many challenges.
For instance, how could we focus our tour in the Revolutionary period when the house and artifacts often more accurately reflect the early Nineteenth century? How could we humanize slavery when the rooms as currently furnished held few traces of the enslaved men and women who had lived and worked in them? To begin to solve these problems we are conducting a new inventory and creating a new furnishings plan that will work in concert with the tour. Even a chair and serving tray placed in a corner can be a powerful reminder that the parlor was not a place of entertainment and leisure for everyone.
What emerged was a new experience for visitors to the Ashley House, which focuses less on artifacts and more on people. It will challenge visitors to consider how race and gender influenced daily life during the Revolutionary War eram, and encourage reflection on the often difficult decisions faced by people like Colonel Ashley and Elizabeth Freeman. We invite questions and conversation and provide participatory experiences for children. As always, the Ashley house is uniquely free of barriers and remains a place where individuals and families can come in close contact with history.”
These interpretive programs at the Ashley House are being made possible by the support of the visiting public and, especially, Trustees members. Truly, it is the visitors who most revitalize a site by giving of their curiosity, leisure time, and insight. We encourage you to visit this summer, the new tours run on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 or 2 o’clock, when you will have the unique opportunity to witness changes to the Ashley House as they take place.
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