Elizabeth R. Sessoms Freeman Turner

Elizabeth R. Sessoms Freeman was born enslaved on March 12, 1861, at a plantation in Camden County, North Carolina. She was the daughter of Mathilda, an enslaved woman, and a white man whose last name was Sessoms. Elizabeth lost her mother in 1865, and after the Civil War, she adopted the last name of her stepfather, Anthony Freeman. It is not clear who raised her after the death of her mother. After the Civil War ended, Elizabeth was able to attend grade school. On May 10, 1880, Elizabeth, at 19 years old, married Rooks Turner, who at 36 years of age was 17 years older. By all accounts, Rooks was jealous of Elizabeth and did not allow her to attend even events at church except the Sunday services. They were members of Cornerstone Baptist Church on Martin Street. Their first child, Shelby, died at two years old. Subsequently, Elizabeth gave birth to three more boys Rooks Jr. born in 1883, Arthur born in 1885; and Lorenzo Dow, born in 1890. After the abrupt departure of Rooks Turner from Elizabeth City in 1896 due to a fight with a white man, Elizabeth became the sole provider for the family. She began washing for white households, and the boys did small jobs while keeping on with their education. Nevertheless, Elizabeth could not retain the considerable property that the family owned and had to sell it to pay taxes. In 1901, Elizabeth and the boys moved to Rockville, Md., to join Rooks Turner, who was then working as a teacher for the segregated school system of Montgomery County. Unfortunately, the marriage was definitely broken, and the couple separated again, although they never divorced. All three Turner children eventually enrolled in Howard University. Rooks Jr. pursued a medical degree before dying in 1912 of tuberculosis. Arthur obtained a law degree in 1912. Lorenzo Dow graduated from Howard in 1914 and received a Master's Degree from Harvard University in 1917 and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1926, and had a very successful academic career. He was also the first African American linguist and a pioneer in the study of the Gullah language. In her later years, Elizabeth was living in the household of Edlow A. Townes and his wife Lettie, along with Geneva Calcier Townes Turner. The latter had married her son Lorenzo Dow in 1919. He had moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1929 to teach at Fisk University and left his wife and mother behind. Elizabeth R. Sessoms Turner passed away on November 23, 1931, at 70 years of age.