This collection of runaway slave notices from Virginia highlights the plight of African Americans fleeing bondage in early nineteenth century Virginia. Presented in modern type, the advertisements appear exactly as published. The preface situates these advertisements historically, and indicates the significance of the collection for studies of African American history, the history of slavery, and resistance to slavery in early American culture. The advertisements are presented chronologically and index by slave and master. This collection of historical documentation will be valuable to scholars interested in the history of slavery and resistance in America.

While historians of Southern slavery have increasingly come to have access to slave sources, there has been a dearth of easily accessible documents on indentured white servants of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This volume of advertisements for runaway indentured servants helps to address that need. The first of four volumes providing a full collection of these advertisements, this volume covers Pennsylvania from 1729 to 1760, while the following volumes will cover Pennsylvania from 1761 to 1820, South Carolina, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts. This collection will provide a valuable source of information about unfree white classes in early America, saving hours of research time. Two appendices, one listing planters by name and one listing runaways by name, provide access to the people mentioned in the advertisements. Appendix tables also provide useful statistics about the runaways.

First published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.