Freedom on the Move, a collective digital history project based at Cornell but partnering with multiple institutions, including HBCUs, is constructing a free and open archive of all extant North American runaway slave ads. The ads document the stories of Black individuals who risked everything to escape slavery across North America. Their liberation attempts were met with responses from enslavers, jailors, and others, who placed ads in newspapers across what became the US, from 1706 (Boston) to 1865 (Richmond). We estimate that there are between 100,000 and 200,000 surviving ads, with FOTM currently housing some 32,500. A committed funding will add tens of thousands more. While other collections of ads exist, FOTM is the only project dedicated to gathering all surviving North American ads in one place. Historians have written important books about “runaway ads”–but most have used partial and/or proprietary data sets. FOTM is working diligently to make all the ads openly available to everyone, reflecting our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity.
Our Approach
FOTM is now the world’s largest collection of runaway ads. The ads contain personalized descriptions of freedom-seekers, which could change our understanding of slavery. The past they reveal is one shaped by surveillance, escape, state-sanctioned violence, black resistance, commodification, and reappropriation. This history opens a window on how racial categorization and perceived racial difference have been constructed through surveillance and violence, as well as on enslaved freedom seekers' refusal to consent to state and social violence.
Our Impact
Our project activities will immerse emerging scholars and the lay public in the data-intensive FOTM environment, where they will be encouraged to explore topics such as our evolving understanding of slavery, “race,” and policing and surveillance in U.S. history, culture and society, while simultaneously working to improve the FOTM database and accompanying documentation and training alongside Cornell University Library’s leading data librarians.