Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Enslavement Data

Public Notices on Enslaved Persons in the Philadelphia Jail

Couny jailers in Pennsylvania placed newspaper notices announcing the imprisonment of Blacks arrested as suspected escaped slaves. The notices provided descriptions of African Americans arrested and committed to the institution as suspected escaped slaves. Enslavers of such persons, seeing the notices in regional newspapers, were expected to come to the jail, provide proof of ownership, and pay the costs associated with keeping, feeding, advertising, and filling out paperwork on the captured esapee. In addition to the jail, the Philadelphia Workhouse played a similar role.

Workhouse and jailer's notices provide valuable clues regarding the escape routes used by freedom seekers. They also illustrate the dangers faced by free Blacks traveling in areas where they were not known and arrested as suspected escaped slaves. Persons arrested and detained under suspicion of being escaped slaves often faced months in confinement due to delays by the work house keeper or jailer in publishing notices, the allowance of weeks or months for potential enslavers to claim them, and the wait for court dates if no enslaver appeared to pay fees. In worst case instances, free Blacks who were unable to prove their free status could be sold back into enslavement by the city or county to recoup fees and costs.

• Names: Pompey
  Date of item: 20 September 1783
  Location: Philadelphia
  Item: Pompey, from New Providence Township, has been captured and jailed in Philadelphia.
  Details/Text: "COMMITTED to my custody, in the gaol of the city and county of Philadelphia, a NEGRO MAN, named POMPEY, with an iron collar about his neck; says he belongs to John Edwards, in New-Providence township. His master is desired to come and pay charges and take him away. Sept. 20. JOHN REYNOLDS, gaoler."
  Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, 16 October 1783.