What did freedom mean for the ex-slaves? be sure to address economy opportunities, gender role, religious independence and family security?

It almost meant nothing. Their economic freedom turned into a sharecropping system which basically meant that the people were not slaves but had to work in extreme conditions and for low wages because the owners of the plantations were capitalists and racists. They couldn't marry equally and it was forbidden for miscegenation which meant they could only stick to other African-Americans. They could practice their religion but it was in smaller communities that were segregated. Gender roles were more or less the same as before the war.