Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London (Institute of Historical Research)

Joint winner of the prestigious 2023 Frederick Douglass Book Prize from Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London reveals the hidden stories of enslaved and bound people who attempted to escape from captivity in England’s capital. In 1655 White Londoners began advertising in the English-speaking world’s first newspapers for enslaved people who had escaped. Based on the advertisements placed in these newspapers by masters and enslavers offering rewards for so-called runaways, this book brings to light for the first time the history of slavery in England as revealed in the stories of resistance by enslaved workers. Featuring a series of case-studies of individual "freedom-seekers", this book explores the nature and significance of escape attempts as well as detailing the likely routes and networks they would take to gain their freedom. The book demonstrates that not only were enslaved people present in Restoration London but that White Londoners of this era were intimately involved in the construction of the system of racial slavery, a process that traditionally has been regarded as happening in the colonies rather than the British Isles. An unmissable and important book that seeks to delve into Britain’s colonial past.

Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in RestorationLondon reveals the hidden stories of enslaved and bound peoplewho attempted to escape from captivity in England's capital.

In 1655 White Londoners began advertising in theEnglish-speaking world's first newspapers for enslaved people whohad escaped. Based on the advertisements placed in these newspapersby masters and enslavers offering rewards for so-called runaways,this book brings to light for the first time the history of slaveryin England as revealed in the stories of resistance by enslavedworkers. Featuring a series of case-studies of individual"freedom-seekers", this book explores the nature and significanceof escape attempts as well as detailing the likely routes andnetworks they would take to gain their freedom.

The book demonstrates that not only were enslaved people presentin Restoration London but that White Londoners of this era wereintimately involved in the construction of the system of racialslavery, a process that traditionally has been regarded ashappening in the colonies rather than the British Isles. Anunmissable and important book that seeks to delve into Britain'scolonial past.

Freedom Seekers reveals the hidden stories of Britains enslaved people and their liberation. This book brings the history of slavery in England to light, revealing the powerful untold stories of resistance by enslaved workers from Africa, South Asia, and First-Nations America forced to work in London as sailors and dockworkers, wet-nurses and washerwomen. Featuring a series of original case studies on those enslaved people who escaped captivity, this volume provides a rich source of information about slavery in eighteenth-century mainland Britain and the freedom seekers therein. Using maps, photographs, newspaper advertisements, and more, the book details escape routes, the networks of slaveholders, and the community of people of color across the London region. Freedom Seekers demonstrates that not only were enslaved people present in Restoration London but that white Londoners were intimately involved in the construction of the system of racial slavery, a process traditionally regarded as happening in the colonies rather than the British Isles. Freedom Seekers is an utterly unmissable and important book that seeks to delve into Britains colonial past. Cover Title Copyright Contents List of illustrations About the author A note on language Acknowledgements Escape Route Prologue: Ben Part I Restoration London and the enslaved 1. London 2. The Black community 3. Freedom seekers in Restoration London Part II The freedom seekers 4. Jack: boys 5. Francisco/Bugge: South Asians 6. ‘A black Girl’ and ‘an Indian black girl’: female freedom seekers 7. Caesar: country marks 8. Benjamin: branded 9. Pompey: shackled 10. Quoshey: escaping from ships and their captains 11. Goude: Thames-side maritime communities 12. Quamy: merchants, bankers, printers and coffee houses 13. David Sugarr and Henry Mundy: escaping from colonial planters in London 14. Calib and ‘a Madagascar Negro’: freedom seekers in the London suburbs and beyond 15. ‘Peter’: London’s connected community of slave-ownership Part III Freedom seekers in the colonies 16. Freedom seekers and the law in England’s American and Caribbean colonies 17. London precedents in New World contexts: the runaway advertisement in the colonies Epilogue: King Index Back Cover