Mumbet’s Freedom Farm Mural Design
This drawing represents the story of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freedom, the namesake of Mumbet’s Freedom Farm. I visited this farm for a month in 2025 and designed it with the farm team based on conversations about what Mumbet means to them. It was originally intended to be a mural, but I got a lyme infection and couldn't make it.
About the design:
Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman was the first free Black woman in Massachusetts. She was born into slavery and successfully sued for her freedom in Great Barrington, MA, the closest town to the farm. “Freeman” was the name she chose after winning. Her case was influential in abolishing slavery in Massachusetts and in the US North generally. The documentation of her case tends to take away her agency - the people documenting suspect that the White man who represented her used her as a test case to try abolishing slavery. Other stories say she sued after hearing the Declaration of Independence read aloud, saying that “liberty” is an “unalienable right.” We do not know the full story, but we know she is powerful. She represents the strength to believe in freedom against odds that seems impossible and to believe in your own worth against a world that tells you the opposite.
She is shown here alongside a quote from her. The paper in the top left represents her court case with the direct quote that determined her legal freedom. The shovel represents one of the few stories we have of her, where she used her own body to protect an enslaved child who was going to be struck with a hot shovel from the fire. The child in the image represents her role as a caretaker for many children. The name Mumbet comes from the children she cared for - a combination of “Mum” and “Bett,” short for Elizabeth. The plants represent her role as an herbalist. The footsteps represent the vision she inspires, remembering that she may have walked these same lands that Mumbet’s Freedom Farm is tending now, harvesting the same herbs. The plants shown here are all medicinal plants that grow wild on the land. The mugwort is central in the image because it covers much of the farm’s land and, like Mumbet’s spirit, it is a plant that brings life to our dreams.
She is shown with many arms because she held so much. Inspired by deities represented with many limbs, her many arms demonstrate her diverse talents and her power, both when she was alive and as an ancestor. This is not to deify her or make her appear more-than-human - she is powerful because she was a human whose story shows tenacity and vision, which we are all capable of. Walking this land now, she inspires our own visions.