free, white, and twenty-one
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English
[edit]Adjective
[edit]free, white, and twenty-one (not comparable)
- (US, archaic, used by and usually of white people) Beholden to no one; master of one's own destiny.
- Synonym: free, white, and eighteen
- 1856, Marion Harland, Alone[1], J.C. Derby, page 359:
- “Free, white, and twenty-one!” sang Emma, cheerily.
- 1932, Helen Vinson, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang:
- "There are no musts in my life - I'm free, white, and twenty-one."
- 1934, Ruby Keeler (Barbara Hemingway), Dames[2]:
- "I'm free, white, and twenty-one. I love to dance and I'm going to dance."