It was an exceptionally hot summer day when an enslaved man named Dick fled Albany, New York, in August of 1796. Read @acmosterman.bsky.social’s incredible recovery of Dick’s life here: freedom-seekers.org/story/dick/

Introducing a new way to explore our freedom seeker stories! Check out our brand new interactive map: freedom-seekers.org/map/

Great listen for those interested in freedom seekers!

Our own @simonatmadison.bsky.social’s latest article, “Taken Not Given: The End of Slavery in Britain” had just published in the @lawandhistrev.bsky.social and is Open Access! It explores the importance of self-liberation to ending slavery in Britain. Link: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Even more than most freedom seekers, Caesar showed incredible determination to liberate himself. Although missing both of his legs, he nevertheless escaped his enslaver via the Chestnut River. Read Billy G. Smith’s telling of Caesar’s story here: freedom-seekers.org/story/caesar/

His enslavers called him Ishmael. He escaped bondage in December 1760 after spending more than a quarter-century enslaved to one of New London’s most prominent families. Read his story here: freedom-seekers.org/story/ishmae...

New York City folks -- come learn more about the @stolenrelations.bsky.social project at the Center for Brooklyn History / Brooklyn Public Library on October 20! Also streaming. www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/cbh...

Check out @simonatmadison.bsky.social’s latest, the story of Bob, a 14 year-old Indigenous boy from North America who was determined to escape enslavement in 18th century Glasgow. Link: freedom-seekers.org/story/bob-se...

Hear Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara discuss her research on race-based slavery, Black settlement, abolition, and Black rights in the 18th and 19th century Midwest on The Journal of American History podcast.

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 10:30 am, I'll give a talk/workshop at Johns Hopkins entitled "How to Write (Maritime) History from Below." The event is sponsored by the Tidewater Initiative and the Maritime Committee of the Maryland Center for History and Culture. Join us! sites.krieger.jhu.edu/tidewater/ev...

A great conversation worth checking out!!!

Please spread the word—The Scholars’ Workshop in Early African American Print at AAS Jan. 12-15, 2026. A writing workshop and intro to archives for junior scholars working on the dissertation or first book. Fully funded. Apply by Oct. 15 2025. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

A skilled craftsman who seized his independence by fleeing the American patriots and embracing the British during the American Revolution, Pompey Fleet managed ultimately to make his way to Africa. Read his story here: freedom-seekers.org/story/pompey/

On advance access: "Conceptualizing ‘Liberated Africans’ and Slave Trade Abolition: Government Schemes to Indenture Enslaved People Captured from Slavery, 1800–1920" by Henry B. Lovejoy (University of Colorado, Boulder) doi.org/10.1093/past...

Charles Thompson escaped Stagville Plantation in North Carolina in 1784. For the last several years he had groomed his enslaver’s race horses. He also had “great notions of freedom.” Read his story here: freedom-seekers.org/story/charle...

(1/3) Today, 304 years ago, a record of the will of Samuel Lippincott, a landowner in Burlington County, NJ, included reference to two Indigenous people of unstated gender and age. They are also not referred to by name or by community, but left deliberately without these human identifiers.

The West African figure of Anansi has come to embody resistance, agency, and the indomitable spirit of people of African descent. Our Anansi Prize supports original research and writing about freedom seekers from across the diaspora. Learn about how to apply here: freedom-seekers.org/anansi_prize/

On this day 249 years ago (8/27/1776) the Continental Army lost the Port of New York, surrendering the city to British control. Occupied Manhattan became a place where enslaved women like Bina could seize freedom. Read her story at freedom-seekers.org/story/bina-j...

On August 12, 1776, a fourteen-year-old boy named George Samba escaped his enslavers home in the heart of London’s East End. Read his story here: freedom-seekers.org/story/george...

The new version of the SlaveVoyages website looks fantastic! It’s also an excellent resource for anyone researching freedom seekers. See: Slavevoyges.org

As Timothy escaped his enslavement he needed to find his way off Block Island, a small patch of land in Rhode Island Sound. Indigenous inhabitants knew the island as Manisses. Read the story of his escape here: freedom-seekers.org/story/timoth...

Ever come across an 18th century word that you’re not sure of? Check out our Glossary, an introduction to the references to clothing fashions and historical vernacular that appear in the runaway advertisements. freedom-seekers.org/glossary/

“Peculiar indeed is the politics of naming” as Tony Bly reminds us in this story about a 17 year-old freedom seeker named Five. Read more here: freedom-seekers.org/story/five/

More good news from one of our project team leaders. Gloria Whiting’s book, "Belonging” is the 2025 John Winthrop Prize winner for the best book on the 17th-century from the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Learn more about the book here: www.pennpress.org/978151282449...

In August 1783, an enslaver named James Young posted an ad seeking the return of Daniel Anderson. But as @coryjamesyoung.bsky.social reveals, Anderson had already eluded capture for five years and had not intention of returning. Read his story: freedom-seekers.org/story/daniel...

Black and Native peoples lived side by side in slavery on Long Island, New York. And on occasion they also sought freedom together. Read the story of Toney and Jack written by Freedom Seeker intern and Beinecke scholar Amanda Grant, here: freedom-seekers.org/story/toney-...

Historian here if you are interested in the history of slavery and abolition in New England and beyond check out this great website by Beacon Hill scholars and their essay in which they were able to condense #theslavescause, very accessible to students and teachers. fliphtml5.com/unsgf/hulh/

Our newest project, New World Royalists, is now up at new-world-royalists.ucl.ac.uk! A breakthrough interactive digital humanities project on enslaved lives and communities in Port Royal Jamaica, the site gives new perspectives on past Black lives during and after British slavery.

Congratulations to Professor Gronningsater! In addition to her award-winning book, she has also contributed a terrific story to our project based on her research: freedom-seekers.org/story/caesar...

These books embody a dialectic, from the violent repression of the slave ship to the triumphant resistance of the freedom ship. The descendants of the those who suffered the horrors of the Middle Passage turned the ship and seas into sites of liberation. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566407...

It was a typical advertisement. But the story of Dr. Caesar (or Augustus Thomson) is anything but typical. Follow his journey from Jamaica to the door of his absentee enslaver in Britain on our website: freedom-seekers.org/story/doctor...

Runaway advertisements were intended to help recapture enslaved men and women who had escaped. But as Shane White elegantly reminds us, these postcards from the past also offer windows into early African American life. Read more here: freedom-seekers.org/story/isabel...

Though stolen from West Africa, Charles Harding refused to accept his enslavement. Charles sought freedom throughout the middle-Atlantic, running away repeatedly. He also learned to read, write, and even play the fiddle. Read his story here: freedom-seekers.org/story/charle...

The Center of the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery just launched a great new digital resource providing an interactive exploration of 19th century Port Royal, Jamaica: www.new-world-royalists.ucl.ac.uk

We can never know the lives, the beliefs, the hopes, and dreams of the enslaved people who dared to be free, but we can speculate, imagine, and research. If you've ever considered exploring these histories, Freedom Seekers is always accepting new submissions! freedom-seekers.org/upload-your-...

A year before the Continental Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence, a 14 year-old boy named Prime escaped his enslavers and disappeared into New England. Read his story here: freedom-seekers.org/story/prime-...

249 years ago this month Cuff Dix escaped his Virginia plantation for the third time! Read more about his determination to be free: freedom-seekers.org/story/cuff-d...

Just in time for the 4th of July, learn about the amazing Patriots of Color Archive Project with Adrienne Whaley and Alexandra Cade from @amrevmuseum.bsky.social on the @oieahc.bsky.social’s Digital History Coffeehouse Series youtu.be/cYXOgMys_wI?...

What can an enslaved person’s clothing reveal about the circumstances of flight? Read Amy Speckart’s 1776 story of “Bet” on our stories page now for a look into this question. freedom-seekers.org/story/bet-oc...

Tom Costa’s story on the mixed-race man Samuel Howell’s dilemma in October 1765 calls to mind an often overlooked period in Thomas Jefferson’s early legal career. Read more here: freedom-seekers.org/story/samuel...

Today on #TheContext, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed (@agordonreed.bsky.social) joins us to discuss the history of Juneteenth, why it matters, and the transformative potential of facing the full truth of our country’s past, both good and bad. kettering.org/learning-us-...

Our “resources” page gets you to the historical data; our “stories,” by contrast, offer qualitative storytelling that explores the history of slave escape in the Atlantic world. Check out our resources today and get started on writing a story! freedom-seekers.org/advertisemen...

There are SO MANY unwritten stories of those who self-emancipated during the American Revolution. What’s your favorite story of a freedom seeker who used wartime contingencies in their effort to escape?

Undergraduate (and student athlete!) Kira Funk profiles the story of Adam, a freedom seeker in North Carolina who made his bold bid for freedom in revolutionary times freedom-seekers.org/story/adam-m...

Thrilled for Professor Gloria Whiting, winner of the Western Association of Women Historians award for the best book in the field of history for 2024. Check out Belonging: An Intimate History of Slavery and Family in New England (Penn, 2024). #freedomseekers

We’re so proud of our undergraduates—all did an exceptional job during the spring term. freedom-seekers.org/undergraduat...

TODAY: Join us on Zoom at 1 pm EDT for the next program in our Church Stewardship Initiative series, with Zachary and Billy sharing advice for the role of a church’s archives in the legacy process. Registration is free and open to all at congregationallibrary.org/events/archi...

Our Spring 2025 undergraduate intern, Sidney Wang, shares this story on “Minny,” who escaped from the Ewell family in northern Virginia (near Manassas) in 1811. freedom-seekers.org/story/minny-...

Enslavers sometimes ran ads dozens if times in pursuit of freedom seekers—as intern Amanda Smith shows, “Fame” generated more than 40 ads seeking her recapture in Washington DC-area newspapers in the early 1800s: freedom-seekers.org/story/fame-j...

Congrats to 2024-2025 Freedom Seeker intern Amanda Grant, who was recently named a recipient of the prestigious Beinecke Scholarship! news.wisc.edu/senior-amand...