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To emancipate someone (including oneself) is to free them from restraint, control, or the power of another, and especially to free them from bondage or enslavement. It follows that the noun emancipation refers to the act or practice of emancipating. The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, for example, ordered that enslaved people living in the Confederate states be released from the bonds of ownership and made free people. It took more than two years for news of the proclamation to reach the enslaved communities in the distant state of Texas. The arrival of the news on June 19 (of 1865) is now celebrated as a national holiday—Juneteenth or Emancipation Day.
Examples of emancipation in a Sentence
Memoir Nation
september 8, Literary Hub, 8 Sep. 2025
Paired with the exhibit will be a collection of slavery documents from AARLCC, such as bills of sale for slaves, insurance documents, and emancipation documents, Hobbs said.
—Raisa Habersham, Miami Herald, 3 Sep. 2025
Some favored gradual emancipation.
—Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
Following emancipation, Black families fought to reunite, underscoring the idea of family as foundational to their status as free people, as described by the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
—Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 13 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Emancipation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emancipation. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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emancipation
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