Comments on: Slavery – How it Began to End in Massachusetts, 1781

By: metan

metan — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:30:26 +0000

A very interesting article. We didn’t have slavery here in Australia although in the early days of settlement most of the population were transported convicts, upon arrival they were assigned to masters for the term of their sentence.

The epitaph for Mum Bett is a lovely one

By: MM

MM — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:28:02 +0000

Mum Bett was one of several law suits at the county level. It was the Walker vs Jennison and then Commonwealth vs Jennison involving Quork Walker that reached the Supreme Judical Court of Massachusetts, this case ended slavery in Massachusetts in 1783.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quock_Walker

Lowell connection – in the 1820s, many of Quork Walker’s neices and nephews and their spouses moved to Lowell – sons and daughters of Minor Walker and Peter Lewis

http://library.uml.edu/clh/Prof/Pro.Html

By: Katie P.

Katie P. — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:52:12 +0000

Very interesting! I just learned about Mum Bett for the first time last week on the show “Finding Your Roots.” Kyra Sedgwick is a descendant of Theodore Sedgwick and if I remember correctly, he actually had slaves of his own earlier in life.
Mum Bett’s epitaph is really fantastic.

By: Mary Ellen Aube

Mary Ellen Aube — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:35:57 +0000

This is a very proud moment for the State of Massachusetts “The beginning of the End of Slavery” I wonder if I could get a copy of the whole article. I would like to send it to friends in Massachusetts. Please keep writing such informational articles about the founding of our country. Where freedom for all began.

By: kkrantz74

kkrantz74 — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:11:40 +0000

Wow, this is neat. I had never heard of Mum Bett before– it’s weird to think of black slavery in Massachusetts. Some of my own ancestors came here as indentured servants– in fact one of my ancestors was one to another ancestor– but at least they had a light at the end of the tunnel.