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⭐ In the context of Manumission, Verene Shepherd considers which approach to be the most frequently practiced method of granting freedom to enslaved individuals?

Historian Verene Shepherd specifically notes that gratuitous manumission, where enslavers voluntarily freed enslaved people, was the most widely used method of manumission throughout history.

⭐ Core Definition: Verene Shepherd

Verene Albertha Shepherd (née Lazarus; born 1960) is a Jamaican academic who is a professor of social history at the University of the West Indies in Mona. She is the director of the university's Institute for Gender and Development Studies, and specialises in Jamaican social history and diaspora studies.

She has published prolifically in journals and books on topics including Jamaican economic history during slavery, the Indian experience in Jamaica, migration and diasporas and Caribbean women's history, and is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa.

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👉 Verene Shepherd in the context of Manumission

Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing slaves by their owners. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that the most widely used term is gratuitous manumission, "the conferment of freedom on the enslaved by enslavers before the end of the slave system".

The motivations for manumission were complex and varied. Firstly, it may present itself as a sentimental and benevolent gesture. One typical scenario was the freeing in the master's will of a devoted servant after long years of service. A trusted bailiff might be manumitted as a gesture of gratitude. For those working as agricultural labourers or in workshops, there was little likelihood of being so noticed. In general, it was more common for older slaves to be given freedom.

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