The Persistence of Indigenous Unfreedom in Early American Newspaper Advertisements, 1704–1804

Abstract

ABSTRACT The scholarship on early American slavery has not always fully acknowledged the persistent presence of enslaved and unfree Indigenous men, women, and children in the American colonies and (later) states. This paper aims to contribute to the broader conversation on the nature of American slavery by examining the presence of enslaved Native people and servants in the eighteenth century through the lens of 1,066 advertisements related to Indigenous people between 1704 and 1804 in colonial newspaper ‘runaway slave’ / self-emancipated and ‘to be sold’ advertisements, all drawn from the America’s Historical Newspapers database. A close examination of these advertisements reveals not only a surprisingly robust ongoing presence, but also important trends in terms of sex, racialization and race-designations by colonists, and varieties of slavery, servitude, and unfreedom, as well as the role of early newspapers in supporting and profiting from the business of slavery, including turning citizens into slave patrollers.