reading response #4

pdf

School

Humboldt State University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

110

Subject

History

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

pdf

Pages

Uploaded by SuperFreedomStork31

The source I have chosen is a list of runaway slave advertisements that were published in various newspapers throughout the 1700’s. The ads consist of a detailed physical and personal description of the person as well as their hobbies and what kind of employment they might seek. These ads were published in the “Virginia Gazette” and the “Pennsylvania Gazette.” The authors of each ad are not explicitly given. Although, if I were to guess, they were probably written by the individuals whose slaves had run away or someone who works for them, whether that be their wife or another slave. The authors of each ad are clearly trying to achieve regaining the possession of their lost slave. It is always shocking to me how normalized slavery was during that time. The ads are very detailed when it comes to describing the lost person's mannerisms and hobbies. The first ad explains how the man acted when drunk and the way he cursed a lot in conversation. In others they have very detailed descriptions of the clothes they have or may have brought with them. I wonder if the slave owners knew all this information from being around them and spending time with them drinking and knew their hobbies or if they forced this information out of other slaves that had spent time with the slave who had run away. This source, once again, has reinforced my preconceptions of this time. I believe that the people during this time would have read this ad in the newspaper and probably not thought much of it. Slavery was the norm in those days, where very little if any white people opposed it. I would assume people's reactions to those ads in the 18th century would be equivalent to someone reading an ad these days about a lost pet or maybe a stolen vehicle. The amount of slaves in the Americas at this time was increasing immensely. Therefore, it was becoming more common for people to own slaves. Which in turn, resulted in more people having runaway slaves. This quote from the beginning of chapter 4 from our textbook supports these points, “By 1750, there were approximately one hundred thousand enslaved Africans in Virginia, at least 40 percent of the colony’s total population.”

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