Episode 322: Karen Cook-Bell, Running From Bondage in Revolutionary America

During the War for American Independence, the British Army attempted to create chaos and inflict economic damage to the revolutionaries’ war effort by issuing two proclamations that promised freedom to any enslaved person who ran away from their revolutionary owners.

How did enslaved people make their escape to British lines? What do we know about their lives and escape experiences?

Karen Cook-Bell, an Associate Professor of History at Bowie State University and author of Running From Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, joins us to investigate the experiences of enslaved women who feld their bondage for the British Army’s promise of freedom.

This episode is supported by an American Rescue Plan grant to the Omohundro Institute from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Karen Cook-Bell, an Associate Professor of History at Bowie State University, joins us to investigate the experiences of enslaved women who fled their bondage for the British Army’s promise of freedom.

Using details from her book, Running From Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, Karen reveals details about the records we have that tell us about the enslaved women who ran away from their bondage in the revolutionary era; Why we need to consider the experiences of runaway enslaved women apart from the experiences of runaway enslaved men; And, how women planned and executed their plans to escape from their enslavement.

What You’ll Discover

Why historians study runaway slaves during the revolutionary era
Measuring escape attempts by enslaved people
Why we should view the resistance of enslaved women apart from the resistance of enslaved men
New research into enslaved women who ran away or self-emancipated
Advertisements for runaway enslaved people in early American newspapers
Anatomy of a runaway advertisement
The success of runaway advertisements in terms of slave recovery
The process of running away or self-emancipating
Supplies enslaved women packed for their flights from slavery
Help fugitive slaves received in their escape attempts
Destinations of safety for enslaved runaways during the revolutionary period
Experiences among the British Army
Dangers in British military camps
A search for freedom in American military camps
The rhetoric of freedom and enslavement during the Revolution
Running away with a group of friends and family
Records about enslaved people who escaped to British Lines
Ona Judge
Differences and similarities of seeking freedom in the revolutionary and Civil War eras

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened had the Continental Army issued a similar proclamation to the one issued by Lord Dunmore in 1775? If the new United States had guaranteed freedom to any enslaved person who took up arms against Great Britain, how might the course of the Revolution and its War for Independence have been different?