Lives of the Enslaved

The GU272 were not the only enslaved peoples who lived in and around the Washington DC / Maryland area. As the runaway advertisements reflect, numerous DC families owned slaves as well. Recurring family names demonstrate the control that a small collection of powerful slave owners had over the lives and prospects of the enslaved.

Limitations

Records documenting the lives of these individuals are very scarce. Much evidence of the mere existence of enslaved individuals are business records detailing little more than names and ages. Documents written by enslaved individuals themselves are even rarer still. Due to this silencing in the historical record, runaway advertisements are one of the few avenues that describe particular enslaved individuals in detail at all.

Runaway Advertisements

Despite these limitations, runaway advertisements are one of the ways we can catch glimpses of the lives of the enslaved. While these adverts were principally intended to spread awareness of escaped slaves amongst the enforcers of chattel slavery, they also offer depictions of the undeniable humanity of the enslaved. Presenting descriptions of the enslaved individuals they hoped to locate, these advertisements convey unique personal features and their independent agency despite their social status.

Visualization

While the background and purpose of these advertisements is dehumanizing and disturbing, they offer many details otherwise unseen. By focusing on the human descriptions and individuality conveyed by runaway advertisements one can uncover depictions of these real people who lived and persevered. The following highlights each present a key word and related descriptions excerpted from several dozen runaway advertisements from the Georgetown area. Consider how each facet offers an additional highlight of a life otherwise undocumented.

he

Emphasis: recognition of a particular individual including personality, distinguishing features, habits.

his

Emphasis: personal details including distinctive features, behaviors, and likely intentions.

calls himself / herself

Emphasis: recognition for the preferred names of these individuals, self determination of their identity

has been

Emphasis: references to past life events, unique behaviors, habits, and recent activities.

free

Emphasis: description of the thriftiness of the individuals as well as their likely aspirations.

wears / face

Emphasis: acknowledgement of distinct facial features and other unique appearances.

she

Emphasis: recognition of a particular individual including personality, distinguishing features, habits.

her

Emphasis: personal details including distinctive features, behaviors, and likely intentions.

years

Emphasis: descriptions of ages and other identifying personal details of these individuals.

brother / sister / child / father / mother

Emphasis: mentions of known family members of these individuals and where they live.

feet / inches

Emphasis: descriptions of height and physical appearance of these individuals.

live / lives

Emphasis: details of the existence and whereabouts of family members of these individuals.

Bibliography

  1. Bird, Steven, Ewan Klein, and Edward Loper. Natural Language Processing with Python. Beijing: O'Reilly Media Inc., 2009.
  2. Georgetown Slavery Archive, “Map of Maryland Jesuit Stations, 17th-19th centuries,” Georgetown Slavery Archive, accessed May 6, 2023, http://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/57.
  3. Maryland Province Archives, “Census of people to be sold in 1838,” Georgetown Slavery Archive, accessed May 6, 2023, http://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/71.
  4. Maryland State Archives, “Runaway ad for Isaac, 1814,” Georgetown Slavery Archive, accessed May 6, 2023, http://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/51.
  5. Maryland State Archives, “Runaway Ad for Isaac and Moses from White Marsh, 1803,” Georgetown Slavery Archive, accessed May 6, 2023, https://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/449.
  6. “Slave Resistance in Georgetown.” Google My Maps. Accessed May 6, 2023. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1EdYvUBaGW4B7yD86wZX53pl6sLO0gfE.
  7. Wingert, Cooper. “Georgetown Runaway Ads.” Google Drive. Accessed May 6, 2023. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1l0I-dIuADLDwVStLu2_S8K3Wf3nHKa_c.