freedman

plural freedmen

1. A man who has been released from a condition of slavery.

   The nomen belonged to all members of a gens and to all those attached to it (women, clients, and freedmen included).

   1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xv

   1 more example

   Education was a high priority for Appalachian freedmen and freedwomen just as it was for blacks throughout the Reconstruction South.

   2001, John C. Inscoe, “Introduction”, in Appalachians and Race: The Mountain South from Slavery to Segregation, page 7

plural Freedmans

1. A surname.
   1. A German and Jewish surname from German.
   2. alternativeAlternative form of Friedman.
   3. A freed slave surname originating as an occupation.