The picture on the left is document 1 from the original group 4. It is a newspaper from 1800s. The publication is from the Corrector, Sag Harbor, Long Island, vol. IV, no.6, June 4, 1825, 1975.1391; Broadside collection, box 3; Brooklyn Historical Society. It looks like pages of different advertisements. The ad about the runaway slave is located on the third page of the newspaper. It was on upper right side of the page. The ad section were small. However, we were easily able to find it because it had a small dark picture of a person looking like he\she is running. The title of the ad is “Six Cents Reward, AND NO CHARGES PAID.” The ad is in black ink and the picture of the slave is dark, maybe it’s because the slave is black so they purposely print the picture darker so people can know the slave is black. The ad is about the owner looking for their runaway slave and they will reward 6 cents to anyone who find the slave. On the ad, it describes the characteristics of the slave. It provided his name, age, height, color, appearance, and outfit that he is wearing when he runaway. Also the last sentence on the ad says whoever tries to hide the slave or hiring him to work will be on penalty of the law.

Transcription of Document 1:

Six Cents Reward, AND NO CHARGES PAID.

RANAWAY from the Subscriber, on the 25th of April last, an indented boy, named, Edward Decay, aged, 18 years, about five feet, two inches high, thick set, and of a yellowish complexion, with thick lips, and very large feet, is remarkable fond of singing, dancing and swearing, had on when he went away, a short woolen jacket, with wide stripes, running round the body, mixed trowsers and naped hat, Whoever will return said boy, shall be entitled to the above reward, and all persons are forbid harboring, or employing him, on penalty of the law. HENRY P. OSBORN. Moriches May 30 No53w

The picture on the right side is document 2. It is a page of list of ads about the runaway slaves. On the ad, the title is 20 dollars reward. The size of the ad is small with a picture of a boy on the left. Its color is black and once again the picture of the boy is dark because the boy is black. The ad describes the characteristics of the slave with providing his name, age, height, where he escaped from, clothing, and the day he ran away. The day of the ad is in between June 2 – 10

Transcriptions of the document 2:

$20 REWARD

RUNAWAY from the subscriber on the 30th May last, a griff named LOUIS, creole of this country, speaks french and english, about 22 years old, 5 feet 5 or 6 inches, strong built. He had a pair of blue cotton trowsers and a gingham shirt. Captains of ships and stream boats ar cautioned not to harbour him under the penalties of the law.

June 2-10 BARTHELEMY FLEITAS.

Comparisons:

In beloved, Seth is description on the news is quite different than the runaway slave in document 1 because as oppose to Edward Devay, Seth wasn’t in the new just because she had run away, she was in it because she did something worse than that, something cruel. So cruel it made the news. Seth had killed her baby daughter and believes to kill her sons also because she didn’t want them to go back to slavery.

Looking at the description of the slave in document one. It is clear that he falls into Franklin runaway profile. In Franklin runaway slave profile It is mentioned that most of the runaways were between the age of 13 to 29. Most of them were describe as very black, jet black or dark skin. However, a few of them were also described as yellowish, yellow, red, mullato and so on. Moreover, they didn’t have the same skills. If you were describe as yellowish you were more likely to be literate as a black man and you would most likely work as waiters, barber, cooks or tailors. Yellow were treated better than a dark skin slave and sort of worth less when they runaways. Therefore if we go back the document 1, we can conclude that it is quite similar to Franklin runaway slaves.

Both documents are also different form beloved. Seth add on the news to be more specific because as oppose to the runaways she was in the news because she had ran away she was there because she did something cruel . She had killed her baby by cutting her throat.