The so-called “price of freedom” was a number assigned by those who never intended to honor it. It was a moving target, set by enslavers who understood that to commodify liberty was to keep it out of reach. They called it manumission. But what it really was, was extortion wrapped in paperwork.
Freedom isn’t a contract—it’s not something to be tallied in livres or pesos. It’s not a favor granted or a prize earned. It’s a condition of being. A birthright. And yet, in the twisted logic of slavery, it became a transaction—delayed, denied, and often destroyed. Because the truth is: you can’t sell what was never yours to own.
