freedman
Americannoun
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freedmen
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of freedman
First recorded in 1595–1605; freed ( def. ) + man
Explanation
An enslaved person who legally gained freedom was once known as a freedman. The term was most popular during and just after the Civil War. Before the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, a formerly enslaved person was commonly referred to as a "free Black" or "free Negro." Freedman and freedwoman became the preferred terms after the Civil War. During Reconstruction, President Lincoln established a Freedman's Bureau that was intended to help formerly enslaved people find shelter and jobs, learn to read and write, and connect with their scattered family members.
Vocabulary lists containing freedman
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the afterword to one of her most autobiographical novels, “starring sally j. freedman as herself,” Blume remembered being “curious, imaginative, a worrier” when she was a girl, qualities she clearly has retained.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 21, 2023
One trip sent him driving more than 600 miles into rural Georgia to find Mark Thrash, a freedman born in Virginia who served in the Civil War.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 19, 2022
The real origins of the song go back a hundred years again and they’re pretty obscure, even though it’s often attributed to a Choctaw freedman called Wallace Willis.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 2, 2020
Mother wit came to the rescue in the person of Anicetus the freedman, preceptor of Nero’s boyish years, and detested by Agrippina with a vigour which was reciprocated.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2019
Three books of Cicero’s jokes, now lost, were published after his death by his freedman Tiro.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
Each tribe also has a unique history with freedmen, whose rights were ultimately spelled out in separate treaties with the U.S.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
The 1866 Freedmen’s Bureau Act then expanded upon the prior year’s law, authorizing the Bureau to care for all loyal refugees and freedmen.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2023
Many were freedmen or even slaves, which may account for their low social standing.
From New York Times ● Jun. 13, 2023
It sits on land donated by descendants of freedmen who survived slavery and pioneered one of Texas' oldest Black settlements, the footprint of which sits just a few blocks away.
From Salon ● May 20, 2022
“Hizdahr’s blood is ancient and-noble. Our joining will join my freedmen to his people. When we become as one, so will our city.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
