Documenting Runaway Slaves

“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.”

This database will help family historians and genealogists researching descendants of slaves and former slave owners.

“Runaway slave advertisements… 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.”