A more thorough explanation:

FREEDMAN

A freedman is a person who was once a slave but has been emancipated or set free.

After the Civil War, many slaves were freed and became freedmen. They were no longer owned by anyone and had the freedom to make their own choices.

One famous freedman was Frederick Douglass, who escaped slavery and became a prominent abolitionist and writer.

These examples illustrate how a person who was once enslaved can become a freedman through emancipation. It shows how important freedom was to those who were once enslaved and how it allowed them to pursue their own dreams and goals.