Emancipation Stories

In Emancipation Stories, FAM's Director of Interpretation & Programs, Clarissa Sanders will host a talk exploring the stories of individuals who experienced emancipation in different ways. We’ll share the lives of people who self-emancipated, taking the dangerous step of seeking freedom for themselves; those who were manumitted, or formally freed by their enslavers; and those who purchased their freedom, using their own labor and resources to secure their emancipation.

Through these individual stories, we’ll explore the different paths to freedom and the circumstances, choices, and challenges that shaped each person’s journey. We’ll also discuss the research behind these stories, examining the historical records and sources that allow us to reconstruct the lives of people whose experiences were often incompletely documented.

This program offers an opportunity to look beyond the broad history of emancipation and consider the individual people who pursued, achieved, and experienced freedom in the Fredericksburg area.