MANUMIT

Manumitted slave (on slave record)

Availability

1850: Both samples
1860: All three samples

Universe

All persons.

Description

MANUMIT identifies individual slaves who were manumitted in the 12 months prior to the census. Users should use this variable with caution: it was not collected systematically and is not nationally representative.

Enumerators were instructed to note how many slaves from a given holding had been manumitted within the past year opposite the name of the former owner. Description of the individual slaves manumitted was up to the enumerator's discretion, so it is no doubt incomplete.

Codes