Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Gloria McCahon Whiting, associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, introduces the Freedom Seekers web project — a collection of research-based stories of enslaved people who escaped to freedom in Revolutionary America, drawn from newspaper ads offering rewards for their capture and return.

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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction by Jessica Lee Stovall
4:42 Four Stories, Four Freedom Seekers
8:33 Pompey Fleet Escapes the Print Shop
18:38 A Black Declaration of Independence
20:55 Penelope Sues for Her Freedom
30:33 Runaway Ads as Historical Sources
32:40 Letitia and the Wass Household
43:00 Interns, Essays, and Classroom Use
45:11 Solomon's Six Escapes
53:11 Freedom Was the North Star