Description of Document 1

• Color:Tan/Off white

• Consisted of: Dates, Authors and Slave activites

• Typewriter style of printing

• 8’ X 11’ (average size), fairly see through, soft texture

• Was written in a Journal of Baxters of Flatlands

• New York City

• Original author passed away and his son carried on the Journal.

Description of Document 2

• Color: Gray

• Consisted of: Slaves description, owners name, picture of a woman carrying a bag

• Newspaper print

• A clipping from a newspaper ad

• From the Louisiana slavery Pamphlet collection

• $20 reward for bring the slave back

       During our second visit to the BHS my group was asked to focus on two pieces of documentation that had both been written up during the slavery days of America. The first document was a journal kept by John Baxter (of Flatlands, NY). He was a schoolteacher, amanuensis and a successful farmer. He began the diary from 1790 and carried out till 1826. This document gave our group the most trouble because of its lack of focus on the slave named “Taft”. John didn’t have much to say about his slave in the journal. He hadn’t mentioned any physical appearance, behaviors or any special marks. What our group gathered was that Taft (We assume his name was given to him by his slave owner) was a runaway slave who was found a short time later. After being brought back to his owner, John Baxter, the person who gave Taft back to him was rewarded $8 but a few days later Taft was sold to someone called Jacobus Lott for 90 pounds. Some of the daily entries were very cryptic and impossible to piece together. Being so, we used this document to show that if the story was told from the point of view of Sethe’s owners this is the process they would have taken to find her.

     The second document was a “reward-if-found” ad in a newspaper depicting a runaway slave. This advertisement was published in Black Code of the State of Louisiana around 1835. The advertisement is very small and in the left side of the ad there is a sketched picture of a woman with a bundle of clothes in her left hand. The ad, being as short as it was, had given clear details of the slave: “Her name is Charlotte…35 years old… woman… scar near mouth… walks with feet pointing outward.. speaks French and English.” The mentioning of the scar near her mouth and her feet pointing outward was necessary so she could be easily noticed.

      Comparing both the documents with the stories we have read “Beloved” and “Runaway Slaves Profile” we can say that running away of the slaves was not the story of only a couple of houses. Slaves used to run due to various reasons, mostly due to torcher and improper management. We don’t have much to compare with John’s journal except we can say that there were more male slaves than female who used to run away. But if we compare the ad from Louisiana with Sethe’s story we can find similarities. First of all both are middle-aged woman. Being that Sethe was a mother, Charlotte should be a mother too. They both had scars and scars are the proof of torcher given to them. John states in the diary that they were hunting for Taft, as the schoolteacher did in “Beloved” for Sethe. When the slaves were found, they were taken back to the owner or jail. John’s diary says that Taft was brought to him, whereas in the newspaper ad the owner puts notice either to bring Taft back to him or to jail. This act is also comparable to Sethe’s story because when she was found she was taken back to jail.

     We thought both articles gave a slight glimpse of what Toni Morrison tried to illustrate in Beloved. Even after the slave is able to get away, they are hunted until they are found. This compares to document one in the sense that the slave, Taft, every move is traced and written to until he is found. Even though Sethe wasn’t found by her owners, this is what she would’ve had to endure if she was found.

      In Runaway Slaves by John Hope Franklin, the slaves are described by the color of their skin, branding on face and and clothing. In document two, the owner advertised the slave by saying she had a scar on her face, her feet pointed outwards, she speaks two languages and is thirty-five years old. This is very clear description of the slave and relates to the articles that are in the Runaway Slaves story. In the appearance section of Runaway Slaves it says the scars on the slave would show that they were slaves and the owners would recognize them immediately. This is why in document two the owner wrote the slave had a scar by her mouth. As stated in the Runaway Slaves story it was rare for women to run away from their owners but when they did run away they were typical young in age, as the slave was in document two.

At our last visit to the Brooklyn Historical Society, we looked at runaway slave advertisements in newspapers. As a group, we looked at two different documents that both contained these ads, and we had the chance to compare and contrast what we saw here with our reading experiences in the novel “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, as well as Franklin/Schwinger’s “Runaway Slave Profile.” Our group came up with some interesting observations between all of the texts that we analyzed, as well as differences that we noticed.

The first document that we looked at was a typescript journal of John Baxter of Flatlands, Long Island; a slave owner. These were some of the observations we made.

-the document was a big green book and the pages of it looked somewhat delicate, which indicates that it was old

-it was published in Brooklyn, NY 1955

-It was from the time periods of 1805- May 1817

-the farm that he owned was located in Flatlands, Long Island

-in page 21 of the journal; from July-Sept of 1807 we read events that go on in the man’s life and at the barn he owned

-He states that a slave ran off- of the name Abraham Wyckoff

-in page 133 of the journal; from April-June of 1815, Mr. Baxter’s “negro ran away” as he states on May 19th

– Mr. Baxter went to the town to publish an ad for his runaway slave, with a reward of $80 on May 22

The second document that we looked at was a runaway slave ad in a newspaper

-A.H Inskeep was the one who put up the ad

-it was for a mulatto named George of about 22 years of age

-he was described as tall and slender

-it cautioned all persons not to harbor or employ said boy

-it was estimated that the boy ran away June 2-3

Drawing a comparison between the documents that we looked at and our other source, there were many points of similarity. Franklin/Schweninger’s “Runaway slave profile” gave the age range of slaves likely to escape between the late twenties to early thirties and are usually male, and in the advertisement for the mulatto named George he falls into that category; being shown in the ad that he is 22 years old, still in his twenties. Also in the “runaway slave profile” it gives a few examples of different slave reward ads that are very similar to the ad for George in the newspaper. The ads usually start with a runaway slave or negro man and followed by the day the slaved escaped, then with a description of the slave, the height, skin color; whether they were dark or light skinned usually called mulattos, but they were also called yellow, light bacon, light copper. Also, what the slave was wearing and any significant or unique features to make the slaves easily identifiable such as scars, following a reward.

There were also some differences in these documents that we closely examined. In the “runaway slave profile” not only does it show that African slaves in the South were the most likely to run, but that there was more ethnic diversities than that of the North. Slaves were usually bilingual, spoke Spanish and English and may also have spoken French. The slaves in the north were also more educated and often knew trades that they were employed in. One ad in the South stated that a creole slave ran away and these were often called negrees. The ads usually described these slaves as ‘American creole’, ‘American mulatto’ or ‘American negro’.

The documents that we studied can also be compared to the runaway stories that we read of the characters in “Beloved.” What is interesting in “Beloved” is that Sethe was pregnant with Denver at the time she ran away, but in the “runaway slave profile”, it indicated that women were less likely to run because they would not want to leave their children behind. It also indicated that most of those who ran were strong because the escape was quite rough. This action by Sethe tells us a lot about her character. It gives quite an understanding on how her struggles had an effect on her ultimate decision, and courage to run.

There was no obvious mention of an advertisement by Mr. Garner when Howard, Burglar or any of the ‘Sweet Home’ men ran away. So it will be quite difficult to relate the two in this regard but obviously, many of the characters in who ran away in “Beloved” must share a lot of the characteristics with the typical runaway slave described in the “runaway slave profile”.

In “Runaway slave advertisement” we have seen that a man named Jim or Armstead. His age is 22 and he ran away with a young horse. They described the horse as if the values are similar to the man. It mentioned that this man might go to Nashville, Tennessee where his mother lives as free person with many acquaintance.

The character  in the advertisement are very similar to the character in “Beloved”. The runaway man called Jim or Armstead resembles Halle in Beloved. The mother said to be free resembles Baby Suggs and other people at Sweet Home.

The Advertisement we saw in BHS is the “The Long Island Star” newspaper, a boy named David Smith age 11 to 12 was larking around Brooklyn and the subscriber want to give away his indenture for free. This boy is rogue and the owner could not govern him. It is sure sign of more freedom here in New York than in other parts of slave states.

I’ve known Brooklyn for sometime now but the visit to the BHS gave me more understanding on what Brooklyn stands for in the state of New York. Seeing the map of the place showed how big and unique of this borough is. The picture of the man and boy taken at the Coney Island beach tells us how important this place is in the history of the borough.
One important observation I’ve always made is the name of some streets. Very close to the BHS are pineapple, orange and cranberry street. I asked about the reason for the names but the ladies there said there was no record of how they were named. They said Gabriel Furman, a nineteenth century brooklyner wrote that that most of the streets in Brooklyn were named after important figures as its done in most places and other names were given by real estate personnel to make places sound nicer that they looked in order to attract people in those neighborhood but when it got to those streets I mentioned earlier, he only said they were fancier, wymstical among others.