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Fugitive Slaves
2 articles on Fugitive Slaves
Fugitive Slaves
Source: Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass
Word Count: 4621 Includes: Fugitive Slaves in the Revolutionary Era | Fugitive Slaves in the Early Nineteenth Century | Fugitive Slaves in the Antebellum Era and during the Civil War | Rebels on the Plantation | BibliographyFugitive, or self-emancipated, slaves ran away in every American colony and state from the beginning of bondage until the Civil War ended slavery forever. Indeed, while fugitive slaves of the colonial and early national periods remain less celebrated than such antebellum counterparts as Frederick Douglass, Henry “Box” Brown, and Harriet Jacobs, they, too, had a significant impact on the institution of slavery. From the advent of plantation slavery in British North America in the seventeenth century onward, fugitive slaves were intimately connected to patterns of slave resistanceand rebelliousness. Colonial masters had turned to African labor because of the high incidence of escapism among both Native American laborers and indentured servants. No sooner had colonial masters shifted to racial slavery than bondpeople began running away too. Moreover, because the ...
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Source: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition
Word Count: 395 Includes: BibliographyAntebellum African Americans who liberated themselves by running away from the slave South to freedom in the North, Canada, or Mexico. American slavery was a lifelong institution from which the only respites were manumission, death, or running away. Manumission was rare—most African Americans who were born slaves died as slaves—but a significant number “stole themselves,” as they were legally the property of their owners, and escaped. The numbers are unknown, but perhaps as many as 100,000 black men, women, and children escaped during the nineteenth century.While much self-liberation was the work of individuals, a secret network called the Underground Railroad provided help through experienced guides, secure routes, and safe houses. Two of the best-known “conductors” were Harriet Tubman,William ...
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