best children. and that was sarah. and then sara, my seven times great grandmother who changes the trajectory of her children in all of her descend into followed. there was a law back in 1705, that declared that all children that are enslaved or free, their condition would be based on whatever their mother was. remember, sara and best arrived free people. so sarah has a lawsuit that is filed, saying that we are free. this is the actual lawsuit filed by sarah. suing for her freedom, and for the freedom of her descendants. and that deposition? it was from a witness who saw mary and best arrive decades earlier. so in 1791, the court agreed with sara and her children and grandchildren and all of those relatives who were descendants of mary and bess. are gonna be free. that my ancestors, filed and
so soon after the end of slavery, get the money to buy 23 acres? absolutely. and the thing of it is, i would even question, he said he was freeborn. well, for some answers, we have to go back more than 300 years to my great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great- grandmother mary. she arrived on a ship in north ummerland county, virginia, in 1712, before america was america. her granddaughter, my eight-times great grandmother, bess, was with her. that s according to this centuries-old deposition that dr. murphy s team uncovered. why a deposition? we ll learn that a little later. and bess at the time was about 13 years old. witnesses apparently said they looked like that they were indians. researchers believe that mary and bess were actually matabonia
like these people of virginia called the northern neck. we re not sure where they came from, but thomas smith of richmond county did enslave one of bess s children and that was sarah. and it s sarah, my seven-times great grandmother, who changes the trajectory of her children and all of her descendants who followed. there was a law back in 1705 that declared that all children that are enslaved or free, their condition would be based on whatever their mother was. remember, sarah and bess arrived free people. so sarah has a lawsuit that s filed saying, we re free. this is the actual lawsuit filed by sarah, suing for her freedom and for the freedom of her descendants. and that deposition, it was from a witness who saw mary and bess arrive decades earlier. so in 1791, the court agreed
looking like matmattaponi. well, researchers in that richmond county did enslave one of beth s children and that was sara. and sara was my seven-time great grandmother changes trajectory of her children and all of the descendents who followed. there was a law in 1705 that declared that all children that are enslaved or free, their condition would be based on whatever their mother was. reporter: remember, sara and bess arrived free people. so sara has a lawsuit filed that says we are free. reporter: this is the actual lawsuit filed by sara suing for her freedom, and the freedom of her descendents, and in that deposition, it is from a witness who saw mary and bess arrive decades earlier. so in 1791, the court agreed
children and all her descendants who followed. there was a law back in 1705 that declared that all children that are enslaved or free, their condition would be based on whatever their mother was. remember, sarah and bess arrived free people. so sarah has a raw suit that s filed saying we re free. this is the actual lawsuit filed by sarah suing for her freedom and for the freedom of her descendants, and that deposition was from a witness who saw mary and bess arrive decades earlier. so in 1791 the court appear the can sarah and her chirp and grand chirp and all of those relatives who were descendants of mary and bess are going to be free. that my ancestors filed and sued for their freedom, it is