freedman

For people named Freedman, see Friedmann.

A freedman is a former slave who has been manumitted or emancipated. Freedmen are a feature of all slave-holding societies.

Ancient Rome

Freedmen formed about 5% of the population in Rome during the Imperial Age of Rome. Needing a Roman name for the first time, freedmen customarily took the nomen of their former owner, who now became their patronus.

A precedent was set under the Claudian Civil Service where freedmen were used as civil servants in the Roman bureaucracy. In addition, Claudius passed legislation concerning slaves, including a law that stated that sick slaves abandoned by their owners became freedmen if they recovered. The emperor was extensively criticized for using freedmen in the Imperial Courts.

Slaves were able to earn their freedom in more than one way. Some were freed in the wills (and therefore at the death) of their owners, some owners manumitted slaves themselves, and other slaves bought themselves from their owner. A freedman was able to buy his own freedom through his peculium, or personal possessions. Freedmen were also able to own their own land.

United States

Main article: Free Negro

In the United States, the term refers to former slaves emancipated before or during the American Civil War. (Some American historians employ the term "freed person" or "freedperson" as a gender neutral alternative.)

Four million people went from bondage to freedom as a result of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although the Emancipation Proclamation stated all slaves in the southern states were in essence 'free,' the Emancipation Proclamation did not release them from slavery. To help them transition from slavery to freedom, President Abraham Lincoln created the Freedmen's Bureau. The Fourteenth Amendment gave ex-slaves citizenship. The Fifteenth amendment gave voting rights to the Freedmen. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are known as the "civil rights amendments".

There is an ongoing dispute between the Cherokee Nation and descendants of freedmen of Cherokee masters over the membership of the freedmen in the Cherokee tribe and the benefits that membership grants.

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