manumissions
Slave release documents
Manumissions are formal acts of freeing enslaved people.
The term appears primarily in historical contexts—legal documents, wills, and records from slaveholding societies: The Virginia archives contain thousands of manumissions from the colonial period.
A slaveholder might grant manumission as a reward, upon death, or after payment.
The singular manumission refers to a single such act or the practice generally.
Absence of constraint
- liberationRelease from constraint
- deedWritten property conveyance
- documentWritten or electronic file
- certificateFormal written attestation
enslavement · bondage · chattel · ownership · property · statute · decree · court
Formal written appeal
- purchaseGoods obtained for payment
- ransomPayment for captive's release
- paymentFulfilling a financial obligation
- negotiationDiscussion seeking mutual accord
terms · conditions · stipulations · apprenticeship · servitude · indenture · earnings · savings
Formal discontinuation of practice
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- slaveholderOwner of enslaved persons
- freedmanReleased former slave
freedwoman · colonial · Roman · ancient · medieval · Atlantic · Caribbean · Brazilian
Absence of constraint
- citizenshipStatus as state member
- rightsJustified claims to freedoms
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
- papersOfficial written records
mobility · employment · family · reunification · surname · identity · patronage · patron
freedom
Absence of constraint
- liberationRelease from constraint
- deedWritten property conveyance
- documentWritten or electronic file
certificate · enslavement · bondage · chattel · ownership · property · statute · decree · court · petition
petition
Formal written appeal
- purchaseGoods obtained for payment
- ransomPayment for captive's release
- paymentFulfilling a financial obligation
negotiation · terms · conditions · stipulations · apprenticeship · servitude · indenture · earnings · savings · installments
abolition
Formal discontinuation of practice
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- slaveholderOwner of enslaved persons
freedman · freedwoman · colonial · Roman · ancient · medieval · Atlantic · Caribbean · Brazilian · American
freedom
Absence of constraint
- citizenshipStatus as state member
- rightsJustified claims to freedoms
- documentationWritten proof or instructions
papers · mobility · employment · family · reunification · surname · identity · patronage · patron · obligations
manumissionsenslavements
Acts of making captive
bondages · impressments · indentures · captures · subjugations
manumissionsenslavements
Acts of making captive
subjugations · captivities · enthrallments · human trafficking · bondages