The Documenting Runaway Slaves (DRS)
research project is a collaborative effort to document newspaper
advertisements placed by masters seeking the capture and return of
runaway slaves. Dr. Max Grivno and Dr. Douglas Chambers,
lead researchers and faculty members in the Southern Miss Department of
History, are focusing their pilot project on Mississippi, but plans are
already in place to expand the research to the larger Gulf South, the
rest of the southern United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil.
Runaway slave advertisements personalize history, providing important clues about the lives of slaves, their efforts at self-emancipation, and the viewpoints of their masters. The ads often include first and last names of the slaves and their masters, where they lived, ages, and names of the current and previous slaveholder. They sometimes also include reasons why the slave fled, possible destinations, clothing, special skills or talents, and personality features. This project will gather these documents and organize them into a full-text searchable online resource for academic researchers, genealogists and anyone who wants to learn more about this time period.
The Documenting Runaway Slaves research project has received generous support from the Mississippi Humanities Council (http://www.mshumanities.org/), the U.S. National Park Service’s Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative (http://www.nps.gov/history/delta/home.htm), the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program (http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm), and The University of Southern Mississippi, including the Department of History (http://www.usm.edu/history), the Center for the Study of the Gulf South (http://www.usm.edu/history/gulf-south), and the College of Arts & Letters (http://www.usm.edu/arts-letters).
THE FIRST RECORD TRANSCRIPTIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!
The first four collections include two from the U.S. Deep South (Arkansas, Mississippi), and two from the British Caribbean (Jamaica). Together these four collections comprise 3,044 advertisements/notices, and a total of 10,531 individual runaway slaves.
Runaway slave advertisements personalize history, providing important clues about the lives of slaves, their efforts at self-emancipation, and the viewpoints of their masters. The ads often include first and last names of the slaves and their masters, where they lived, ages, and names of the current and previous slaveholder. They sometimes also include reasons why the slave fled, possible destinations, clothing, special skills or talents, and personality features. This project will gather these documents and organize them into a full-text searchable online resource for academic researchers, genealogists and anyone who wants to learn more about this time period.
The Documenting Runaway Slaves research project has received generous support from the Mississippi Humanities Council (http://www.mshumanities.org/), the U.S. National Park Service’s Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative (http://www.nps.gov/history/delta/home.htm), the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program (http://www.nps.gov/subjects/ugrr/index.htm), and The University of Southern Mississippi, including the Department of History (http://www.usm.edu/history), the Center for the Study of the Gulf South (http://www.usm.edu/history/gulf-south), and the College of Arts & Letters (http://www.usm.edu/arts-letters).
THE FIRST RECORD TRANSCRIPTIONS ARE NOW AVAILABLE!
The first four collections include two from the U.S. Deep South (Arkansas, Mississippi), and two from the British Caribbean (Jamaica). Together these four collections comprise 3,044 advertisements/notices, and a total of 10,531 individual runaway slaves.
- Arkansas (1820-1865): 523 advertisements; 703 runaway slaves
- Jamaica (18th Century): 740 advertisements; 4,150 runaway slaves
- Jamaica (19th Century): 133 advertisements; 3,278 runaway slaves
- Mississippi (1800-1860): 1,648 advertisements; 2,400 runaway slaves
Datasets
Arkansas Runaway Slaves: 1820-1865, S. Charles Bolton
Jamaica Runaway Slaves: 18th Century, Douglas B. Chambers
Jamaica Runaway Slaves: 19th Century, Douglas B. Chambers
Mississippi Runaway Slaves: 1800-1860, Douglas B. Chambers and Max Grivno
No comments:
Post a Comment