Terms & Definitions

Account Book

A manuscript, usually a bound book or booklet, in which transactions for an individual or business were recorded.

Emancipation

The laws created by federal or state governments that freed enslaved people.

Enslaved (Legal Status)

A person who was enslaved was considered and treated as property. An enslaved person could have been seized and sold to alleviate debts or may have been listed in wills and inventories with livestock and household goods. Enslaved people had no legal rights and the legal status passed from mother to child. Another person, the enslaver, decided many parts of an enslaved person’s life, such as where they would live and what work they would do. The term “enslaved person” is used in place of the word “slave” to recognize that there was more to someone’s life than their circumstances.

Freedom Seeker

An enslaved person who took action to gain their freedom from enslavement. That person might also be called “self-liberated” because of their actions. This term is used in place of words like “runaway” or “fugitive slave” to recognize a persons agency rather than their legal status and treatment as property.

Indentured (Legal Status)

A person who was indentured had signed a contract binding themself to another person for a certain length of time. This person was often called an indentured servant. A person must be free (legal status) before indenturing themself to another person. An indentured person had some legal recourse if the terms of the indenture were not adhered to.

Lease Agreement

A contract between a tenant and a landowner, giving a tenant the right to live in a property for an agreed-upon period of time. Typically, these lease agreements also included the amount of rent a tenant was supposed to pay a landowner. Rent for farms could include cash, crops, and other products.

Manumission, Unconditional

A legal document that granted freedom to enslaved people immediately.

Mulatto

A racial classification often found in historic documents to refer to people of mixed ancestry, usually intended as people with African and European ancestry, but could have included people with Native American ancestry. Today it is widely considered to be offensive.

Plantation

A property in which crops or livestock are cultivated by resident labor. The resident labor often comprised enslaved and indentured individuals.

Absentee Landlord or Owner

A plantation or estate owner who did not live on and manage the property directly.

Chattel Slavery

A form of enslavement that equated human beings with property. It was instituted in the Americas by European colonizers. People held in slavery under this system were generally enslaved for life and there was no legal recognition of their rights as a human being. This form of enslavement was also race-based, with legal status of “enslaved” transferring from mother to child.

Enslaver

A person who exerted authority and power over those they kept in bondage. They held at least one other person in slavery.

Free (Legal Status)

A person who was free was recognized as a human being with legal rights. However, freedom was unrestricted for white people and restricted for Black people through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Black people’s freedom was limited by laws that restricted what travel they could undertake, that they could not own weapons, that they could not vote, and that they could not gather in large groups.

Indenture

A legally binding contract that committed one person to work for another, for a certain length of time. The contract could be negotiated between parties to include room and board, a clothing allowance, or learning a skill for the person bound by the indenture to serve the other. It might also have included restrictions such as not getting married or not being allowed to visit certain places, such as taverns.

Manumission

A legal document that conferred freedom to enslaved people. This document was typically written by an individual enslaver who freed the people they enslaved without the government making them do so.

Manumission, Conditional

This legally binding document did not grant people freedom immediately, but instead had conditions that had to be satisfied. For example, John Dickinson completed a conditional manumission in 1777, stating that enslaved individuals had to faithfully serve and obey him for an additional twenty-one years before they could be free. That meant it would be 1798 before any person he enslaved could claim their freedom as a result of the document.

Neck

Typically used to describe a long, thin peninsula, resembling the look of a neck on a map. For example, the St. Jones Neck is a geographic area along the banks of the St. Jones River.

Tenant Farmer

A term describing one who leases a property or dwelling from a landowner. A farmer who pays rent to a landowner in exchange for using that land to cultivate crops and/or raise livestock.

Breeches

A piece of clothing worn similarly to modern-day trousers. They began at the waist to where the pantlegs ended just below the knee, where they fastened with buttons or buckles. Many breeches had a fall front, where a panel or flap of fabric covered the front opening and was fastened into place with buttons. This type of garment was generally worn by men and boys.

Shift

An undergarment, worn directly against the skin. It was made of linen, either bleached or natural color, and was washed more often than outer garments. A shift was worn by adult women and by children until they were old enough to be dressed in clothing that reflected the gender they were assigned at birth.

Petticoat

A mid-calf to floor-length garment, similar in concept to a maxi skirt today. It was worn with a jacket or gown as an outer layer. For warmth, underpetticoats of various fabrics were added underneath an outer petticoat. This type of garment was generally worn by women and girls.