Elizabeth Freeman was born about 1742 to African American parents who were slaves. At the age of six months she was acquired, along with her sister, by John Ashley, a wealthy Massachusetts slaveholders. She became known as “Mumbet” or “Mum Bett.”
For nearly 30 years Mumbet served the Ashley family. One day, Ashley’s wife tried to strike Mumbet’s sister with a spade. Mumbet protected her sister and took the blow instead. Furious, she left the house and refused to come back. When the Ashleys tried to make her return, Mumbet consulted a lawyer, Theodore Sedgewick. With his help, Mumbet sued(起诉) for her freedom.
While serving the Ashleys, Mumbet had listened to many discussions of the new Massachusetts constitution. If the constitution said that all people were free and equal, then she thought it should apply to her. Eventually, Mumbet won her freedom---- the first slave in Massachusetts to do so under the new constitution.
Strangely enough, after the trial, the Ashleys asked Mumbet to come back and work for them as a paid employee. She declined and instead went to work for Segdewick. Mumbet died in 1829, but her legacy lived on in her many descendants(后裔). One of her great-grandchildren was W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the founder of the NAACP, and an important writer and spokesperson for African American civil rights.
Mumbet’s tombstone still stands in the Massachusetts cemetery where she was buried. It reads, in part: “She was born a slave and remained a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years. She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal.”
小题1:What do we know about Mumbet according to Paragraph 1?
A．She was born a slave
B．She was a slaveholder
C．She had a famous sister
D．She was born into a rich family小题2:Why did Mumbet run away from the Ashleys?
A．She found an employer
B．She wanted to be a lawyer
C．She was hit and got angry
D．She had to take care of her sister小题3:What did Mumbet learn from discussions about the new consititution?
A．She should always obey her owners’ orders
B．She should be as free and equal as whites
C．How to be a good servant
D．How to apply for a job小题4:What did Mumbet do after the trial?
A．She chose to work for a lawyer
B．She found the NAACP
C．She continued to serve the Ashleys
D．She went to live with her grandchildren小题5:What is the test mainly about?
A．A story of a famous writer and spokesperson
B．The friendship between a lawyer and a slave
C．The life of a brave African American woman
D．A trial that shocked the whole world
