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“If one minute’s freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it—just to stand one minute on God’s earth a free woman.”
Elizabeth Freeman
The first African American woman to successfully file a lawsuit for freedom in the state of Massachusetts
On November 1, 2022, an act designating July 8 as Massachusetts Emancipation Day (also known as Quock Walker Day) was approved and added to Chapter 6 of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The day “[recognizes] the significant contributions made by Quock Walker in 1781 to abolish slavery in the Commonwealth and the supreme judicial court decisions.” The MA Legislature credits Sean Osborne, Founder and President of the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington, with bringing attention to how Quock Walker’s cases helped lead to the liberation of slaves in the Commonwealth.