Documented Flight: Enslaved People Running Away in Colonial Virginia

Colonial Virginia records from the 1670s document an extensive pattern of enslaved people running away. Court records show slaveholders filing for reimbursement of costs incurred pursuing runaways; newspaper notices described individuals by name, appearance, skills, and last known location. Some runaways sought to reach Native American communities in the interior; others attempted to pass as free in coastal towns. Virginia laws of 1672 and 1680 authorized the killing of runaways who resisted recapture and offered bounties for their return, reflecting how common and threatening flight had become.