What do you call a self-liberated slave?
In my story, Tsidia is a slave who managed to inspire people into making slavery illegal, thus setting her free. Is there a word I can use to describe her status in a way that highlights she was the one who liberated herself without the use of violence? I was thinking of self-abolished, but it doesn't sound right
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2 answers
I'm not sure that a word such as auto-emancipation sounds anything but pretentious, but to say "she unshackled herself" could work literaly and figurativley depending on your context.
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I don't think there is a particular word because the actor is the former slave owner. He or she is the one who freed Tsidia.
So your descriptions would be about how Tsidia influenced the action, even if Tsidia is the subject of the sentence. "Tsidia convinced her owners to set her free." Or, as object, "The Jefferson family, moved by her oratory, emancipated Tsidia."
Now, Tsidia is certainly the actor in her fate. To put her front and center where she belongs, you can name her actions. She is an abolitionist. An activist. The longer version being that she is a former slave, freed by her own persuasion.
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