Laurel Hill Cemetery (3A)- Sharper Freeman

We stand here at the Lowell Street entrance to Laurel Hill Cemetery. This hallowed and important place is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The ground you are standing on was first established as a cemetery back in 1736 and grew in acres for the next 100 years.

In order to understand the history of  Reading more intimately, one needs to look closely at the gravestones and markers here, and consider who was included and who was not. 

The names of the enslaved of Reading are in parish and probate records, 19th century histories, newspapers, and vital statistics, yet only two gravestones are currently known, Amos Potamia and Sharper Freeman. Let’s walk to the marker for Sharper Freeman.

Here in front of us is the gravestone of Sharper Freeman. 

“Sharper Freeman Kidnapped in Africa when about 16 years of age and enslaved. He was a soldier in our army of the Revolution for which he received his freedom and a pension. He died January 1, 1822 - aged about 80 years." 

Sharper was one of millions of Africans to face the trauma of family separation and the Middle Passage.  According to Reading historian Lilley Eaton, he was “believed to be the son of a king” in Africa.  Regardless of his original status among his people, the extreme trauma of being ripped from his family stayed with him as Sharper “remembered the crying of his mother when he was brought away.”  The mental and emotional torment of being separated from loved ones could be just as brutal as the physical abuses slaves endured.  

Little is known about Sharper’s life as an enslaved man but his service in the American Revolution would mark a key point in his life.  Sharper was one of roughly 5,000 African Americans who served in the American Revolutionary War, roughly 1500 coming from Massachusetts.  Enslaved or already free,, a substantial number of African Americans sought to join the fight for Liberty against the British monarchy. He [Sharper] first enlisted as a soldier from Stoneham in 1780 and served in western Massachusetts and New Jersey.  In April of 1782, Sharper enlisted again and served with the 7th Massachusetts Regiment in various locations along the Hudson River. 

Like many other enslaved people who gained their freedom, Sharper enlisted under the surname Freeman, a name which proudly reflected his new status as a free man. Not all enslaved men who enlisted in the army received a pension or were able to live a life in freedom after service, but Sharper was. Military records list his occupation as a farmer and laborer, jobs he likely maintained both as a slave and as a free person in Reading where he settled after the war.

(Read by Jim DeBenedictis, History and Social Studies teacher at Reading Memorial High School)