slave name
Captor-assigned designation
A slave name is a name imposed by slaveholders on enslaved people, replacing their original African names.
The term now refers more broadly to any name—especially a surname—inherited from this history.
Some Black Americans reject such names as symbols of oppression: Malcolm X replaced his slave name with X to signify his lost African identity.
The concept extends to any name seen as imposed by a dominant culture rather than chosen.
Large-scale farming operation
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- chattelMovable personal property
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
- Middle PassageTransatlantic slave trade crossing
Transatlantic · manumission · abolition · emancipation · fugitive · Underground Railroad · reconstruction · colonialism
Recovery of something lost
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- lineageDescent from progenitors
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
genealogy · birthright · legacy · bloodline · family tree · ethnicity · self-determination · Kunta Kinte
plantation
Large-scale farming operation
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- chattelMovable personal property
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
Middle Passage · Transatlantic · manumission · abolition · emancipation · fugitive · Underground Railroad · reconstruction · colonialism · indentured
reclamation
Recovery of something lost
heritage · genealogy · birthright · legacy · bloodline · family tree · ethnicity · self-determination · Kunta Kinte · cultural erasure
slave namechosen name
Self-selected personal identifier
true name · birth name · real name · given name · preferred name
slave nametribal name
Indigenous group's designation
traditional name · Kunta Kinte · indigenous name · birth name
slave, name, slaves, slaved, slaving, slavery, slavish, slavishly, enslave