The document summarizes the story of Bett, who was born into slavery in Claverack, New York in about 1744. As a teenager, she was given or sold to the Ashley family in Sheffield, Massachusetts. There, she was exposed to abolitionist ideas through political meetings at the Ashley home. She sued for her freedom and won, becoming the first slave freed under the Massachusetts constitution of 1780. After gaining her freedom, she took the name Elizabeth Freeman and worked for the Sedgwick family.