Bortløbne slaver i Dansk Vestindien: Et studie af bortløbningsannoncer fra The Royal Danish American Gazette (1770-1801)

Runaway slaves in the Danish West Indies - A study in runaway ads from The Royal Danish American Gazette (1770-1801)

Wolff-Tæstensen, Pernille

4. semester

Historie, Kandidat

2022

2022-12-20

69

Afhandlingen undersøger, hvad efterlysningsannoncer for bortløbne slaver kan fortælle om konflikter i De Dansk Vestindiske Øer ved at analysere annoncer i The Royal Danish American Gazette, udgivet i Christiansted på St. Croix 1770–1801. Disse annoncer var opslag, hvor slaveejere beskrev og efterlyste personer, der var flygtet, og de er en rig kilde til viden om slaveriet. Afhandlingen bidrager til et felt, der kun sjældent har fokuseret på De Dansk Vestindiske Øer, selv om der findes mange studier af flugt og annoncer fra andre kolonier. Den historiske forskning viser, at “marronage” (flugt fra slaveri) tog mange former afhængigt af geografi og tilgængelige ressourcer. Eksempelvis har Nevill A. T. Hall argumenteret for, at “grand marronage” (forsøg på permanent flugt) i De Dansk Vestindiske Øer ofte var maritim, fordi de små, skovløse øer gav få muligheder for at gemme sig sammenlignet med steder med etablerede maroonsamfund. Ligesom tidligere studier dokumenterer afhandlingen, at annoncerne giver oplysninger om de bortløbne slaver; vigtigst viser den, at selve eksistensen af en annonce peger på en konflikt, idet en flugt og en ejers offentlige efterlysning står over for hinanden. Derudover viser analysen, at beskrivelser af forskellige kropslige mærker hos de bortløbne ofte indikerer spændinger mellem slaver og slaveejere. Afslutningsvis diskuteres, hvordan disse resultater passer med mønstre, som andre historikere har identificeret i andre geografiske områder.

This thesis examines what runaway advertisements can reveal about conflicts in the Danish West Indies by analyzing notices in The Royal Danish American Gazette, published in Christiansted on St. Croix from 1770 to 1801. These ads were public notices in which slave owners described and sought people who had fled, and they are a rich source of information about slavery. The thesis adds to a field that has rarely focused on the Danish West Indies, even though extensive studies of flight and ads exist for other colonies. The historiography shows that marronage (flight from slavery) took many forms depending on geography and available resources. For example, Nevill A. T. Hall has argued that grand marronage (attempts at permanent escape) in the Danish West Indies often meant maritime flight because the small, deforested islands offered few hiding places, unlike regions with established maroon communities. Like earlier studies, this thesis finds that runaway ads contain many details about people who fled; most importantly, it shows that the very existence of an ad signals conflict, as a flight and an owner’s public call for return stand in direct opposition. In addition, the analysis notes that descriptions of different bodily marks among those who ran away often indicate tensions between enslaved people and slave owners. Finally, the thesis discusses how these results align with patterns identified by historians in other geographic areas.

[Dette resumé er omskrevet med hjælp fra AI baseret på projektets originale resumé]

runaway ; bortløbne slaver

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