Book contents
- Running from Bondage
- Running from Bondage
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 “A Negro Wench Named Lucia”
- Chapter 2 “A Mulatto Woman Named Margaret”
- Chapter 3 “A Well Dressed Woman Named Jenny”
- Chapter 4 “A Negro Woman Called Bett”
- Chapter 5 Confronting the Power Structures
- Conclusion
- Appendix Fugitive Women Émigrés to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 2 - “A Mulatto Woman Named Margaret”
Pre-Revolutionary Fugitive Women
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2021
- Running from Bondage
- Running from Bondage
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Tables
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 “A Negro Wench Named Lucia”
- Chapter 2 “A Mulatto Woman Named Margaret”
- Chapter 3 “A Well Dressed Woman Named Jenny”
- Chapter 4 “A Negro Woman Called Bett”
- Chapter 5 Confronting the Power Structures
- Conclusion
- Appendix Fugitive Women Émigrés to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Chapter 2 is an examination of the pre-Revolutionary period. This chapter examines the flight of a mulatto woman named Margaret Grant who escaped slavery in Baltimore, Maryland in 1770 and 1773. This chapter examines the meaning of freedom through a delineation of acts of self-emancipation and places the story of Margaret in the context of the wider Atlantic world. Ideas about freedom are in many ways fruitful to investigate when analyzing the experiences of enslaved women. Bond women expressed their thoughts about freedom in private and public discourse throughout the era of slavery. Their involvement in conspiracies and acts of resistance such as running away is evidence of their willingness to fight for freedom no matter what the outcome. Margaret’s story stands as a microcosm of the lives of other fugitive women in pre-Revolutionary America. Indeed, enslaved women such as Margaret were a dynamic force when measured against the contingencies of Revolutionary America. They gave definitive significance to the concept of fugitivity despite their fragmented histories and the historical fracturing of their identities.
Keywords
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- Information
- Running from BondageEnslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America, pp. 44 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021