Key terms & definitions

A formerly enslaved person who had been legally freed.

A formerly enslaved man who has been freed. Freedom changed his legal status, but relationships of service and dependence could continue.

A person who had been enslaved and was subsequently freed through manumission.

An agency established by Congress in 1865 to help oversee the transition from slavery to freedom.

Freedom from domination or compulsion; in warfare literature this can mean a city’s independence or an individual’s protection from enslavement.

The ability to think, speak or act without unnecessary interference, within laws that protect other people’s rights.

A programme adopted in 1955 by the ANC and its allies, calling for democratic government, racial equality and changes to the distribution of land and wealth.

The freedom to form or join organisations, such as political parties and pressure groups.

The freedom to communicate opinions and ideas, including criticism of the government.

The ability to communicate ideas and opinions, including views that others may dislike, subject to legal limits.

A request to a public authority for recorded information it holds, subject to legal exemptions.

The right of citizens of participating countries to move between them to live and work, subject to the applicable rules.

Rules allowing people from participating countries to move between those countries to live and work.

The freedom to choose, hold or change a religion or belief, including choosing not to follow a religion.

Freedom to hold, adopt, change or reject a religion or belief and to express it, while respecting the rights of others.

The freedom to show religious belief through activities such as worship, teaching, observance and religious dress.

The right to debate and express opinions; in Elizabethan Parliament, disputes concerned which subjects MPs could discuss without punishment.

Civil rights protesters who travelled on interstate buses in 1961 to challenge continued segregation on journeys and in bus-terminal facilities.

People who had been enslaved and were now legally free.

A person who had been enslaved and was subsequently released from slavery.

A formerly enslaved woman who has been freed. Freedom did not necessarily end her obligations to her former owner, who became her patron.

Motion in which gravity is the only force acting on an object.

Motion in which gravity is the only force acting on an object.

A festival organised around free admission, often associated with communal participation and alternative lifestyles rather than commercial entertainment.

A drawing made without technical drawing equipment such as rulers or set squares, used to communicate an idea quickly.

Drawing by hand without formal drawing aids, used to record and explore ideas quickly.

A narrative method that expresses a character’s thoughts or idiom within third-person narration, without directly introducing them as speech or thought.

Third-person narration that adopts a character’s vocabulary, tone or thoughts without directly quoting them or repeatedly announcing ‘she thought’.

A self-employed person who provides services to businesses on a job-by-job basis rather than being their employee.

A person who was not bound to a lord as an unfree peasant. This legal status mattered because Magna Carta did not protect everyone equally.