Similar issue to Statesmen, the term Freedmen is gender exclusive. This record for Forging freedom Black women and the pursuit of liberty in antebellum Charleston is an example.
I am working on submitting a proposal to change the following headings:
Freedmen –> Freed persons
Freedmen–France –> Freed persons — France
Freedmen–United States –> Freed persons–United States
Freedmen in art –> Freed persons in art
Freedmen in literature –> Freed persons in literature
Update 10/8/2021: Submitted the following changes to Freed persons. :
Change: 150 $a Freed persons
Add: 450 $w nne $a Freedmen
Add: 450 $a Freed women
Add: 450 $a Freed children
Add: 450 $a Freed men
Add: 670 $a Oxford African American Studies Center website, October 4, 2021 $b (Freed persons: in slave-owning societies denoted men and women who were black or of mixed race and born free or manumitted. More specific gendered terms to describe this group include freedmen and freedwomen)
Add 670 $a Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade website, October 4, 2021 $b (Freed person: Person who was at one point enslaved and subsequently manumitted by self-purchase or by acts of the former enslaver, a judge, or the state)
Add 670 $a House Hearing, 106 Congress, Freedmen’s Bureau Preservation Act: are these reconstruction era records being protected, U.S. Government Printing Office, viewed on October 6, 2021 $b (The House passed a bill that established a bureau for freed men)
Add 952 $a LC pattern: Fire fighters, Flight attendants, Ombudspersons
Add 952 $a Freedmen is now applied to all persons who were freed from slavery. Freed persons is gender-neutral and more accurate to include women and children. This change is being proposed for all records using Freedmen.
Records submitted for changes:
Freed persons sp 85051692
Freed persons — France sp 85051693
Freed persons – United States sp 94005987
Freed persons in art sp2006000192
Freed persons in literature sp 94004296
Children of freed persons sp2008008402
May I ask why persons and not people? People is more commonly used now in published resources.
It’s a good point, generally these days “people” is more commonly used more than “persons.” I went with “enslaved persons” because this is the form I’ve seen used in the documentation more, although I have seen both. The only controlled vocabulary for terms about slavery I found is this one: https://docs.enslaved.org/controlledVocabulary/v1/enslavedcontrolledvocabularies-v1.2.pdf, which uses “Enslaved person.” The Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia resource uses both terms but does say ‘Use… “freed[person|man|woman],” or another term to describe those who were not enslaved during a period when slavery existed in that society.’ (https://archivesforblacklives.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/ardr_202010.pdf)