free black, noun phrase

Origin:
EnglishShow more English free liberated + black noun sense 1 a.
historical
A Black person not bound in slavery; usually, one released from servitude before slavery was abolished at the Cape in 1834.
1795 C.R. Hopson tr. of C.P. Thunberg’s Trav. I. 140The free blacks are not permitted to go upon the municipal guard.
1805 D. Woodriff in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1899) V. 230Hottentots, free blacks, and Burghers of every description.
1819 Lord C. Somerset in G.M. Theal Rec. of Cape Col. (1902) XII. 244There is a particular burying ground set apart for the class of Free blacks or slaves who have embraced the Christian faith.
1827 Reports of Commissioners upon Finances at Cape of G.H. I. 49The burgher senate..have the superintendence and direction of..‘free blacks’, whose services they can gratuitously command.
1832 Graham’s Town Jrnl 30 Mar. 55As the population now is, it..comprises English, Dutch, Malays, Slaves, Hottentots, Caffers, and other free blacks of various descriptions.
1949 E. Hellmann Handbk on Race Rel. 349Missionary enterprise among the slaves and the ‘free blacks’ (that is, freed slaves and Hottentots) flourished.
c1968 Stellenbosch: Oldest Village in S. Afr. (brochure) 8He states the population as consisting [in 1825] of 774 Christians, 144 Hottentots, 852 slaves, 22 prize negroes and 64 free blacks, in total 1855 inhabitants.
1979 W.S. Robertson in Sunday Times 11 Feb. 4It would appear to be reasonably certain that the Quwal mosque in Upper Dorp Street was the first and oldest mosque at the Cape, standing on property transferred as far back as 1794 to a ‘free black’, Coridon of Bengal.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 53A free black..was a former slave who had been released from slavery.
A Black person not bound in slavery; usually, one released from servitude before slavery was abolished at the Cape in 1834.
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free, adjectiveadj.free burgher, noun phrasen. phr.
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