Prior to the general emancipation of all people who were unfree on July 3, 1848, enslaved people in the Danish West Indies gained their individual freedom legally through a legal process of manumission, whereby they were freed in writing by their owner and then issued a Free Letter by the governor. Owners freed their slaves for various reasons. Two of the most common were due to faithful service, and because the owner had a relationship (including kin) with the person they were freeing. Enslaved people also purchased their freedom. As shown by this document, manumissions were often specified in wills, and then they were officially registered in the police records.
In this activity, students will use questions to interpret a manumission and discuss paths to freedom during slavery in the Danish West Indies. They will use the themes of time, continuity and change to discuss the terms used in the past to identify amount of racial mixture, and to consider the significance that some enslaved people were able to change their status in a slave society.
About
Primary Sources in this Activity
Suggested Teaching Instructions
This primary source activity includes the topic of slavery. Viewed as a sensitive topic for classroom lessons, teachers should consider their students ability to engage with the topics, give background information, create a safe environment for discussion, and be prepared to support their students’ questions and responses to the subject matter. There are terms used in this primary source that describe race that are not acceptable to use today. These terms should be discussed prior to looking at the primary source with students. Additionally, the term “wench” is used, the teacher may want to provide an explanation of the changing definitions of the term “wench”. The term wench in old times referred to a young woman or girl, later it was used for a female servant and a girl or woman of socially low class. It would in more recent times take on other meanings, some of which were/are insulting. The term is no longer commonly used as its seen as offensive.
The teacher may want to share the background information providing under the About section with students to help explain the document. They can consider discussing the definitions of manumission, and the differences between general emancipation and individual emancipation.
The document can be loaded on a smart board, or onto individual computers. The document is part of a book containing many pages. The class will focus on pages 45 and 46 which contain manumissions of five people submitted by the heirs of their former owner John Gerhardus Fridericus Knevels. The entries are written in Danish and in English. Identify the English entries and zoom into them. On page 45, on the left side there is an entry freeing Anna Elizabeth, and the right side there is an entry freeing Susanna. On page 46, Anna Elizabeth’s child Helena and Susanna’s child Charles are freed, and a man named Hendricus. The teacher should help the class to read each entry, including dates and names.
Use the questions from the Analyze a Written Document to lead students through the process of observing the primary source. After working through answering the questions, have a class discussion using the prompts below.
