Running away was an unambiguous act of rebellion against slavery in early America. Perhaps most frequently, runaways fled to escape imminent violence or in the aftermath of physical abuse. Others took to their heels for fear of being sold, while a few absconded temporarily, voluntarily returning to their masters only after protracted negotiations about their future treatment. Trying to secure their permanent freedom, many runaways challenged the system of racial bondage itself.
To prevent and deter runaways, white masters and colonial legislatures put in place all manner of obstacles. Slaves who were discovered beyond the confines of their owners’ land without written permission were typically punished by whipping. Virginia laws of 1723 and 1748, for example, punished repeat offenders with dismemberment, castration, branding, whipping, and incarceration. Colonial officials also made it difficult for fugitives to depend on anyone else (especially other black people) for aid. Any free persons found guilty of hiding or otherwise abetting runaway slaves faced heavy fines or 20 lashes. Conversely, any individual who captured or returned a runaway was rewarded; 20 shillings (the equivalent of a week’s labor for a laborer) was the going rate in South Carolina for much of the 18th century. Here and elsewhere in the southern colonies, slave owners also subsidized organized slave patrols. Many escapees perished in rivers and woods trying to avoid detection and evade recapture.
Despite such obstacles to gaining freedom, the promise of liberty tempted thousands to try. Newspaper advertisements in which masters sought the return of recent runaways detail the attempts of thousands of such fugitives. Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette included notices detailing 1,324 black escapees between 1728 and 1790. Those fugitives shared many characteristics. American-born, English-speaking young men fled most frequently; eight male runaways appeared in newspaper notices for each female fugitive. Slaves who were physically fit, of mixed race, without families, and possessed of craft skills that might help them find employment were far more likely to attempt to escape slavery in this manner than those newly arrived from Africa or the Caribbean. Still, many “salt-water” slaves (newly imported) also tried to escape, but usually with less success.
In their advertisements, owners revealed some of the tactics by which fugitive slaves attempted to evade suspicion and capture. Roger Saunders of South Carolina warned the public that his slaves Quamino and Quacco would use their fluency in English to create plausible back-stories and pose as freepersons. Other slaves used forged papers and passes. Their choice of destination could also help fugitives find cover. The free black populations of Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston provided at least some security for runaways able to reach them. Other fugitives typically headed for maroon communities in the interior, such as Virginia’s Dismal Swamp, or for the free black communities of Spanish Florida. Other blacks who stole away headed for nearby port towns in hopes of securing passage on an undermanned ship and embarking on a career as a mariner.
A handful of escapees headed west to Native Americans, where they were sometimes protected and at other times turned back to white authorities.
Further reading: Sally E. Hadden, Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003); Billy G. Smith and Richard Wojtowicz, eds., Blacks Who Stole Themselves: Advertisements for Runaways in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1790 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989).
—Richard J. Bell
World History
