- published: 24 May 2014
- views: 2181668
In United States history, a free negro or free black was the legal status in the territory of the United States of an African American person who was not a slave. The term was in use before the independence of the Thirteen Colonies and elsewhere in British North America until the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, which rendered this distinction irrelevant.
Slavery was legal and practiced in each of the Thirteen Colonies at various times. Not all African Americans came to America as slaves; a few came even in the 17th century as free men, sailors working on ships. In the early colonial years, some Africans came as indentured servants, as did many of the immigrants from the British Isles. Such servants became free when they completed their term of indenture; they were also eligible for headrights for land in the new colony in the Chesapeake Bay region, where indentured servants were more common. As early as 1619, a class of free black people existed in North America.
Free like a bumblebee
Free like the open sea
Free like a flying dove
Free like the moon above
Free like the four letters that spell out L-O-V-E loveree like the
second,minute, moment when you hold me only
Free like the bluest sky
Free like mountain's eye
Free like... free like...free like....free like
Free like the brown in my eye
Free like the tears that I cry
Free like...free like....free like... free like
Free like a willow tree
Free like a summers eve
Free like the waves are crashing on the side of a solitary beach
Free like a bumblebee
Free like the open sea
Free like the minute, second, moment when you hold me closely
Free like a flying dove
Free like the moon above
Free like... free like...free like....free like (fades out)