What’s Emancipation?

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Emancipation is a concept that describes freedom from some sort of controlling and usually oppressive authority or ideology. Some of the best-known examples have occurred on a massive scale and involved the freedom of many thousands of people at once. The formal end of slavery in the United States is a common example, as is the liberation of Jews from concentration camps at the end of World War II and their subsequent re-acceptance by European society. However, people are empowering themselves on a much smaller scale almost every day. A number of international humanitarian organizations work to end human trafficking, for example, which is a modern form of slavery that usually centers around domestic or sexual slavery. The term can also be applied to minor children who resort to the courts and the force of the law to declare themselves independent from their parents for both financial and decision-making purposes.

Great ideas of freedom

From a definitional standpoint, ideas of emancipation can be quite broad and far-reaching. They can apply to basically any kind of liberation, physical or ideological. As such, it might be appropriate in many contexts to say that someone has been “emancipated” from the oppressive ideas of a workplace, for example, or to say that a discreet group such as novelists have during a certain period emancipated themselves from the general environment. and usually patriarchal social norms of the time. In both of these examples, there is an argument that the term is only powerful because of what it evokes about true physical human liberation. This is where the concept is most powerful, as well as where it has the most historical significance.

During the American Civil War

Perhaps one of the most cited examples is the freedom granted to African American slaves during the American Civil War. In a document known as the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln decreed the freedom of African American slaves in the Confederate states. Lincoln, through the additional executive power he gained during the Civil War, decided on this course of action for many different reasons, but many scholars think one major reason was that he himself was personally opposed to slavery. At the end of the war, Lincoln took steps to ensure that the freedom of African Americans was written into the constitution, which was, like the 13th amendment.

Other reasons behind the decree were strategic. The proclamation reduced the number of people available to serve in the Confederate Army, as most freed slaves fled north for a better life. Furthermore, Britain and France, which were staunchly opposed to the slavery system in the United States, became more powerful allies of the Union, or Northern states, and it was the Union Army that ultimately won the war.

During the Holocaust

Another example of emancipation is that of the Jews in Europe in the 19th century. At the end of World War II, rules were enacted to end discrimination against Jews and declare them equal citizens with European Christians. Before being emancipated, Jews could not vote and had to distinguish themselves from Christians by wearing yellow badges featuring a Star of David. Men had to wear a judehut, a yellow cone-shaped hat. It is estimated that millions of Jews and their supporters were imprisoned in concentration camps by the Nazis during the height of the war, and many died there. Those who survived typically found, in liberated Europe, that they were able to participate in civil society and freely practice their religion.

Modern human trafficking
While the above are clearly defined historical examples, the importance of giving self-determination to those who are oppressed and bullied continues today. Humanitarian work to end human trafficking is one example. Numerous humanitarian organizations around the world, including the United Nations, have established processes by which they are able to identify, release and usually also rehabilitate people who have been victims of human trafficking. This practice typically centers on young girls in developing countries and involves their trade and abuse as domestic servants and, often, sex workers.
Break the parent-child bond
Children in many countries can also be formally emancipated from their parents, which is a legal process that is usually reserved for situations where a child’s parents are abusive or otherwise unable to provide for the child and where the child has the means and the desire to provide for himself independently. This sort of emancipation is a legal process that basically allows the child to act as their own free agent.

In most countries, children are considered more or less independent actors once they turn 18; this type of process almost always concerns younger adolescents. The paperwork and court-issued documents in these types of proceedings typically allow the emancipated child to do things like rent an apartment or sign liability waivers without parental consent, and effectively serve to sever any legal obligations the parents owe the child . In almost all cases, however, this type of action must be initiated by the child; parents can’t just decide to dump or let rowdy teenagers go free.

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