slaveryto
freedom
Study Areas
January 1779: Richard Wood Dresses as a Woman
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD.
RAN AWAY about two months ago, from the subscriber, living near Chester Town, Kent County, Maryland, a Negro Man named DICK, about five feet eight or nine inches high, of a yellow complexion, round shouldered, and remarkably stout and bony. I have some reason to believe he is either in Wilmington or Philadelphia, as he was met on that road making up the country. He is a very artful fellow, and generally goes by the name of Richard Wood, but frequently dresses himself in womens cloaths and then calls himself Polly Wood, and the deception is not easily detected as he can cook, spin, knit, wash and iron as well as most women. He affects to have fits, which I do not believe to be real. Whoever will secure the said Negro in any gaol, so that I may have him again, shall receive the above reward, or if brought hom, reasonable charges, paid by
DEAN CANNADAY.
January 24.
Notes
Cannaday notes that Richard Wood "frequently dresses himself in womens cloaths and then calls himself Polly Wood." While Cannaday implies this may have been a way for Wood to evade capture after his escape, his remarks that Wood was a "frequent" cross-dresser and also skilled at chores commonly associated with females indicates Wood may have been trans-gender. For another example from the same time period of an escaped slave cross dressing, see "March 1770: Margaret Grant Dresses as a Boy Servant."
Source
Dunlap and Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser, 18 February 1779.
Covering the history of African Americans in central Pennsylvania from the colonial era through the Civil War.
Support the Afrolumens Project. Buy the books on Amazon:
The Year of Jubilee, Volume One: Men of God, Volume Two: Men of Muscle
