With the advent of newspapers in the American colonies, enslavers posted “runaway ads” to try to locate fugitives. Additionally, jailers posted ads describing people they had apprehended in search of the enslavers who claimed the fugitives as property. Freedom on the Move compiles thousands of stories of resistance that have never been accessible in one place.Created to control the movement of enslaved people, the ads ultimately preserved the details of individual lives–their personality, appearance, and life story. Taken collectively, the ads constitute a detailed, concise, and rare source of information about the experiences of enslaved people.
Freedom on the Move is a database of fugitives from North American slavery.
