ex-slave
Former bondage survivor
An ex-slave is a person formerly held in slavery who has been freed or escaped.
The term appears in historical contexts discussing emancipation and its aftermath: Many ex-slaves migrated north after the Civil War.
The hyphenated form emphasizes the transition from bondage to freedom, though *formerly enslaved person* is now often preferred in formal writing.
Emancipation anniversary celebration
- abolitionFormal discontinuation of practice
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
- Sojourner TruthAbolitionist and suffragist orator
- Underground RailroadCovert abolitionist escape network
Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · escape · fugitive · sanctuary · liberator · rescue · flight
Movement to end oppression
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- Underground RailroadCovert abolitionist escape network
- ReconstructionPost-1865 national reunification period
- antebellumBefore a war's start
sharecropping · Dred Scott · Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · Middle Passage · Nat Turner · triangular trade · auction block
One still alive after
- enduranceSustained effort capacity
- fortitudeEnduring courage under pain
- perseveranceSustained resolve despite obstacles
- strengthPower to exert force
tenacity · indomitable · unbroken · overcomer · testimony · oral history · memoir · narrative
Status as state member
- suffrageRight to cast ballots
- voting rightsEntitlement to elect officials
- equalitySame status for all
- enfranchisementGranting citizenship rights
Reconstruction · Freedmen's Bureau · civil rights · Jim Crow · discrimination · segregation · integration · literacy
Self-penned life narrative
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- oral historyRecorded interviews about the past
- dictationOral text for writing
amanuensis · storytelling · witness · remembrance · documentation · archive · firsthand account
Juneteenth
Emancipation anniversary celebration
- abolitionFormal discontinuation of practice
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
- Sojourner TruthAbolitionist and suffragist orator
Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · Underground Railroad · escape · fugitive · sanctuary · liberator · rescue · flight · passage
abolitionism
Movement to end oppression
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- Underground RailroadCovert abolitionist escape network
- ReconstructionPost-1865 national reunification period
antebellum · sharecropping · Dred Scott · Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass · Middle Passage · Nat Turner · triangular trade · auction block · overseer
survivor
One still alive after
- enduranceSustained effort capacity
- fortitudeEnduring courage under pain
- perseveranceSustained resolve despite obstacles
strength · tenacity · indomitable · unbroken · overcomer · testimony · oral history · memoir · narrative · witness
citizenship
Status as state member
- suffrageRight to cast ballots
- voting rightsEntitlement to elect officials
- equalitySame status for all
enfranchisement · Reconstruction · Freedmen's Bureau · civil rights · Jim Crow · discrimination · segregation · integration · literacy · land ownership
autobiography
Self-penned life narrative
- testimonySworn statement as evidence
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- oral historyRecorded interviews about the past
dictation · amanuensis · storytelling · witness · remembrance · documentation · archive · firsthand account
ex-slaveslave
Owned human, forced laborer
bondsman · bondswoman · captive · serf · thrall
ex-slaveslaveholder
Owner of enslaved persons
slave owner · slavemaster · enslaver · slaveowner · master
slave, slaves, slaved, slaving, slavery, slavish, slavishly, enslave, enslaved