Jane Freedom
Sampler

Public Domain

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Maker Jane Freedom(American, 1819–1835)American, 1819–1835

Titles

Sampler

Datec. 1830

Made inNorfolk, Connecticut, United States

MediumSilk on linen

Dimensions12 5/16 × 8 1/16 in. (31.2 × 20.5 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Bayou Bend Docent Organization Endowment Fund

Object numberB.2023.9

Current Location

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Washington Hall

Exposé

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

TEXTILES

DescriptionThe maker of this alphabet sampler, Jane Freedom, was a free Black girl who was born in 1819 and lived in Norfolk, Connecticut, approximately 35 miles northwest of Hartford. The power and poignancy of her name trace back to her grandfather, Dolphin, who had been born enslaved. In 1784, Connecticut passed its Gradual Abolition Act, which provided that those born enslaved after March 1, 1784, would become free at the age of 25, but no one then enslaved was freed. Dolphin and his family gained emancipation in 1788. At that time, rather than take a more conventional name, they chose the surname Freedom. It is not known where Jane received instruction in needlework or from whom. Though Dolphin’s family bore the name Freedom, the school-aged Jane lived at a time when her rights and freedoms were far from fully realized or guaranteed. Schooling for Black children in Connecticut met with significant resistance in the 1830s, as demonstrated by the outrage and violence directed at Prudence Crandall and her Canterbury, Connecticut, academy, which admitted its first Black student in 1832. Recent research by Jameson Fellow Ella Langridge has uncovered two closely related samplers of similar date made in Norfolk by White girls whose families had associations with the Freedom family, suggesting that Jane probably learned her needlework skills locally, perhaps in a domestic setting rather than in an academy.
ProvenanceJane Freedom (1819–1835), Norfolk, Connecticut; given to her brother, John Freedom (1823–1903), Norfolk and New Bedford, Massachusetts; given to his daughter, Flossie May Freedom (1879–1965), New Bedford; given to her 1st Jackson cousin once removed, Yvonne L. L. Youngblood Craigwell (1921–1985), New Bedford; given to her daughter, Valerie L. White, Lake Oswego, Oregon; sold through [M. Finkel and Daughter, Philadelphia]; purchased by MFAH, 2023.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Recto: Stitched in multicolored thread: ABCDEFGHIJKL / MNOPQRSTUVW / XYZ 123456789. / abcdefghijklmnop / qrstuvwxyz . / ABCDEFG / HIJKLM / NOPQRS / TUVWXYZ / abcdefghijklmnop / qrst UVWXYZ . / Jane Freedom’s Sampler.Aged11years

Recto: Stitched "Jane Freedom" at lower center.

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Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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