Teaching How Black Lives Matter in History with "Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence"
By Katie Orr
On the last day of 2020’s Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, Watkins Elementary School teacher Monique Sullivan gathered her 4th grade students for a history lesson. She showed them the book chosen for the lesson, Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence, and asked students what they already know about the American Revolution and about history.
We’ve studied Early America and we’ve studied the American Revolution, but think about who wrote the history we’ve been studying. Who wrote the first histories of the American Revolution?
The students shouted out their answers,
Europeans! Rich people! White men! English immigrants!
One students observed, “When they said in the Declaration of Independence that everyone was created equal, they didn’t mean all people. They meant white men.”
“Yes, white men, mostly European and wealthy,” Sullivan responded. “And when we read their history, we read one point of view. But who else was alive at that time?”
The students answered,
Native Americans, white women, Black people, non-white immigrants, poor people.
Sullivan drew a diagram to illustrate their discussion, which revealed how the inner circle of mainstream historians has excluded large groups and important perspectives that challenge mainstream interpretations of the past.
Most of the time, when someone is telling you a story about someone in the past, the stories that are centered are the privileged folks. Not so with this book I’m about to read to you.
With the diagram in front of them, the students listened as their teacher read to them Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence.
In this true story, a woman (Mumbet, also known as Elizabeth Freeman) sues the powerful Massachusetts family that enslaved her and her daughter — and wins. Not only are she and her daughter freed, but she is compensated for her work during the years she was enslaved. The story illustrates how a woman finds a way to step up and demand the same dignity allotted to others in her nation, demanding the courts to acknowledge that Black lives matter. She brought her case at a time when nascent, post-colonial justice was more malleable and unpredictable on issues of race and citizenship. In the following century, policies like the Dred Scott Decision would remove the rights of Black Americans to be treated equally under the law, as Mumbet was treated.
Sullivan wrapped up the lesson by asking her class,
What do stories like this do for the historically marginalized?
The students volunteered answers, describing how Mumbet’s story shows the hypocrisy of historical figures like the creators of the U.S. Constitution and signers of the Declaration. The students also thought it was important to get a more complete view of history that focuses not only on the rich and powerful.
Read how middle school teacher Dr. Tiffany Mitchell used Mumbet’s Declaration of Independence as an introduction to a lesson on the Constitution.