Freed Black leaders defined freedom as owning land, not proximity to Whites

Evidence

Slavery meant “receiving by irresistible power the work of another man, and not by his consent,” said the group’s spokesman, Garrison Frazier (The Liberator editor’s name was everywhere). Freedom was “placing us where we could reap the fruit of our own labor.” To accomplish this—to be truly free—we must “have land.” When asked whether they desired interracial communities, Frazier shared their preference “to live by ourselves.” There was “a prejudice against us in the South that will take years to get over.” — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 615

Categorization

• DEFINE: The freedmen’s own definition of freedom as land ownership — not abolition or integration — is central to Kendi’s argument.
• XREF: Connects to the author’s OWN pre-existing work on the DeLand novel — early 1900s freedmen land acquisition stories resonate with what these Savannah leaders are articulating in 1865.