How to Use manumission in a Sentence

manumission

noun
  • The manumission of the Manumission Society’s slaves would be left, at least in the short run, to the initiative of members.
    — Richard Brookhiser, National Review, 24 Oct. 2019
  • Although Washington set his slaves on the path to freedom in his will, the manumission didn’t take effect until after the death of his wife Martha, which would be in 1802.
    — Suyin Haynes, Time, 4 Feb. 2020
  • As outlined in his enslaver’s will, Ross received a ten-acre tract of land close to the Blackwater River upon his manumission.
    — Isis Davis-Marks, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 Apr. 2021
  • The largest manumission case in U.S. history led to a unique community in Virginia.
    — The Root, 19 Jan. 2018
  • So, how has this great manumission remained largely unknown outside of a handful of history buffs and the growing body of descendants?
    — Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN, 5 Sep. 2021
  • Hemings became free in 1796, according to a deed of manumission signed by Jefferson.
    — Christina Tkacik, Baltimore Sun, 28 Apr. 2022
  • The archive contains millions of documents—including ship registries, manumission papers, and slave sales ledgers—making it among the most comprehensive source of its kind in the world.
    — Tessa Solomon For Artnews, Robb Report, 6 Dec. 2021
  • Jones also had been born into slavery in Delaware had obtained his freedom through manumission in 1784.
    — Alicia Ault, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Mar. 2021
  • After her manumission and the death of Susanna Wheatley, in 1774, Phillis became more vocal in expressing her antislavery views.
    — Elizabeth Winkler, The New Yorker, 30 July 2020
  • There were also fine gradations of enslavement that allowed slaves to change their status through intermarriage and manumission.
    — Vicente Rafael, The Atlantic, 31 May 2017
  • Bellerjeau discovered her manumission (legal freedom) certificate from 1803 and the name of her mother (Pender).
    — Claire Bellerjeau and Tiffany Yecke Brooks, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2022
  • Owen’s instructions also reflect tightening laws around manumission and anxiety around the growing proportion of free black people in slave states.
    — The Root, 22 Sep. 2017
  • Both were closed systems, with little chance of manumission, emphasis on survival, and a single, omnipresent authority.
    — Daniel Geary, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2015
  • Decades of research had focused on the ability of enslaved people to transcend their status through manumission, celebrating the fact that the buying and granting of freedom was much more common in Rome than in other slaveholding societies.
    — New York Times, 2 Feb. 2021
  • The terrible toll of lives lost and infrastructure destruction could have been avoided had the southern secessionists accepted a payment to conduct manumission en masse.
    — William Darity, Rolling Stone, 19 June 2021
  • Cascading from the table’s edge is a manumission document releasing a family named Moore from chattel slavery as burning incense and a nearby plate of water quietly consecrate the sober scene.
    — Los Angeles Times, 11 May 2022
  • Bell also pointed out that Quakers like Hopkins frequently purchased slaves with the intent of freeing them, but were often required to maintain legal ownership — sometimes for years — due to laws regulating manumission.
    — Grayson Quay, The Week, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Hamilton was proposing a parallel hierarchy of founding fathers — the founding fathers of manumission.
    — Richard Brookhiser, National Review, 24 Oct. 2019
  • Against this backdrop, manumission became increasingly difficult to achieve under Kentucky law.
    — The Root, 22 Sep. 2017
  • Ultimately, Jefferson did not give Harriet an education, an inheritance or even manumission papers declaring her freed.
    — Charisse Jones, USA TODAY, 29 Jan. 2018
  • With the Revolution, Maryland and Virginia legislators rewrote manumission laws, and masters — driven by a combination of Revolutionary egalitarianism and economic necessity — freed their slaves in large numbers.
    — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 27 Aug. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'manumission.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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