Fugitive Slaves and Spaces of Freedom in North America

335 Pages·2018·2.22 MB·English

by  Damian Alan Pargas

Fugitive Slaves and Spaces of Freedom in North America
Southern Dissent
University Press of florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola

FUGITIVE SLAVES AND
SPACES OF FREEDOM
IN NORTH AMERICA
edited by
damian alan Pargas
Foreword by Stanley Harrold and Randall M. Miller
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Copyright 2018 by Damian Alan Pargas
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
23 22 21 20 19 18 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pargas, Damian Alan, editor.
Title: Fugitive slaves and spaces of freedom in North America / edited by
Damian Alan Pargas.
Other titles: Southern dissent.
Description: Gainesville : University Press of Florida, 2018. | Series:
Southern dissent | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017060267 | ISBN 9780813056036 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Fugitive slaves—United States. | Slavery—United
States—History. | Slaves—Emancipation—United States.
Classification: LCC E450 .F957 2018 | DDC 973.7/115—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017060267
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University
System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University,
Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University,
New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University
of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://upress.ufl.edu
Contents
List of Figures vii
List of Tables ix
Foreword xi
Introduction: Spaces of Freedom in North America 1
Damian Alan Pargas
1. Black Self-Emancipation, Gradual Emancipation, and the
Underground Railroad in the Northern Colonies and States,
1763–1804 21
Graham Russell Gao Hodges
2. Revisiting “British Principle Talk”: Antebellum Black Expectations
and Racism in Early Ontario 34
Gordon S. Barker
3. The Underground Railroad in “Indian Country”: Northwest
Ohio, 1795–1843 70
Roy E. Finkenbine
4. After 1850: Reassessing the Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law 93
Matthew Pinsker
5. Seeking Freedom in the Midst of Slavery: Fugitive Slaves in the
Antebellum South 116
Damian Alan Pargas
6. Illegal but Tolerated: Slave Refugees in Richmond, Virginia,
1800–1860 137
Viola Franziska Müller
7. Borderland Maroons 168
Sylviane A. Diouf
8. Advertising Maranda: Runaway Slaves in Texas, 1835–1865 197
Kyle Ainsworth
9. “Design His Course to Mexico”: The Fugitive Slave Experience in
the Texas–Mexico Borderlands, 1850–1853 232
Mekala Audain
10. Freedom Interrupted: Runaway Slaves and Insecure Borders in
the Mexican Northeast 251
James David Nichols
11. The U.S. Coastal Passage and Caribbean Spaces of Freedom 275
Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie
List of Contributors 317
Index 319
figUres
8.1. Newspaper advertisement submitted by Robert F. Millard of
Nacogdoches, Texas 198
8.2. Newspaper notice for a horse captured from a runaway
slave 202

tables
8.1. Runaway slave content in Texas documents, 1835–1865 203
8.2. Newspaper repetitions of Texas runaway slave
advertisements 204
8.3. Days between when a runaway escaped and when the slave
owner wrote the advertisement 206
8.4. Days between when a runaway escaped and when the
advertisement was published in a newspaper 206
8.5. Frequency of slave flight attempts from Texas counties,
1835–1865 208
8.6. Presumed destination of fugitive slaves in Texas,
1835–1865 209
8.7. Escape attempts where the runaway slave stole a horse or
mule 216
8A.1. Departure locations for fugitive slave escapes in Texas,
1835–1865 218
8A.2. Capture locations for fugitive slave captures in Texas,
1835–1865 220
11.1. Liberated captives from select U.S. coastal slavers in the
Caribbean, 1826–1841 306