Freedman
Videos
Page
A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission, emancipation, or self-purchase. A fugitive slave is a person who escaped enslavement by fleeing.
Cinerary urn for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter
Arab-Muslim slave traders and their African captives in the Sahara, 19th century.
Freedman with an old horn used to call slaves photographed in Texas, 1939
Manumission
Videos
Page
Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing slaves by their owners. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that the most widely used term is gratuitous manumission, "the conferment of freedom on the enslaved by enslavers before the end of the slave system".
Relief depicting the manumission of two slaves, with pileus hats (1st century BC, Musée royal de Mariemont).
Original manumission for Gowan Pamphlet of the Colony of Virginia, which freed him from slavery. Signed by his owner, David Miller. c. 1793
Letter where one can read that the slave Geraldo will be free with the condition of working for another 6 years (Brazil). Arquivo Público do Estado de São Paulo|APESP