Final answer:
Manumission is the legal process of emancipation where enslaved people are granted their freedom. It played a role in the movement toward abolishing slavery and the growth of the free black population.
Step-by-step explanation:
Manumission is the legal process of emancipation where enslaved people are granted their freedom. It was a way for slaveholders to voluntarily free their slaves. In colonial America and the Antebellum United States, some enslaved individuals were subjected to manumission by their owners. This practice declined in the early 1800s and was not widespread. Manumission played a role in the movement toward abolishing slavery and the growth of the free black population.