19th Century’s Shocking Newspaper Ads for Slaves Will Infuriate You

Utterly bizarre ads reveal several untold stories.

Before the U.S. civil war, escaped slaves posed a problem for southern US citizens. The owners wanted their human property back, and that too at all cost, so they used to place ads for runaway slaves.

The local newspaper was an effective medium to get the message across — laws like the Fugitive Slave Laws of 1793 and 1850 prohibited anyone from aiding any fugitive slave.

Additionally, owners used to hire slave catchers for not only spreading the word about the escaped slaves but also physically transporting them if captured.

The newspaper held every possible detail of the slave: an accurate description, a reward for the helpers, and information about the place from where the slave had escaped.

Some slave owners used to go the extra mile in desperation and get the sketch of their slave printed — as, during that time, photography was not invented.

Majority of the people who tried this brave act of escaping never became well-known to the public, making the only record of their public profile to be the fugitive slave ads on newspapers. Several thousands of ads exist in the Chronicling America under Topics Page.

Now, if we take a glimpse at those ads today, we will get shocked by those descriptions, rethinking that those words were actually used to describe a person with a heart and feelings. Let’s see some of them:

1. Ads for George Washington’s slaves

Many are already aware of how George Washington was himself a slave owner and directed several campaigns to recapture the slaves. Interestingly, Washington’s lady’s enslaved woman Ona (Oney) Judge fled from the president’s house. The ad read:

Ona Judge was never caught. Explaining her reasons for escaping in one interview in the 1840s, the lady stated how she was told to be transferred as a wedding present to the granddaughter of Martha Washington upon the death of Elder Washington.

Additionally, George Washington’s other servant Marcus had escaped from Mount Vernon and the ad read:

2. The bizarre ad Peter

The ad Peter reflects the example of one of the most chilling runaway ads, dehumanizing Peter’s appearance, and intelligence. The reference of him getting scared of the whip, as well as the mention of his scar, is utterly bizarre.

Interestingly, one ad was not only issued in a single chronicle instead in many, as the ad peter ran from Rodney, Mississippi weekly Southern Telegraph to Natchez Courier.

3. Runaway ads for jailed

There were types of slave ads, one of the famous ones was for runaways who had been seized and jailed.

4. Thomas Jefferson’s escaped slave

5. Ad for a slave who had five gashes on his face

6. Varying rewards for the slaves from $10 to $100

7. A perfect illustration of a slave on ad

8. The escaped slave owned a whining voice

9. All six slaves who escaped together — a group ad

10. The place of captured mattered

11. Tom had whip marks on his back

12. Robinson whose whites of his shows more than usual

13. Details such as slave’s ear bitten off

14. Ad for a slave named Nimrod

15. $200 was a pretty decent reward back then

If we talk about the period of civil war, then the ads continued to get published, except they lacked full support of the federal government. The process officially ended in the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865.

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Reference:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035487/1845-08-22/ed-1/seq-4/