Runaway Slaves in Antebellum Baltimore: An Urban Form of Marronage?

Viola Franziska Müller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The starting point of this article is the observation that thousands of enslaved people escaped bondage and managed to find refuge in the city of Baltimore between 1800 and 1860. There, they integrated into a large free black community. Given the use of the term “urban marronage” to categorize slave flight to cities in some historical literature, this chapter discusses the concept of marronage and its applicability to the urban context of antebellum Baltimore. It examines individual escapees from slavery, the communities they joined, and the broader slaveholding society to emphasize that the interplay and mutual relations of all three should be considered when assessing the applicability of this concept. Discussing the historiography around marronage and the arguments that speak both in favour of and against applying the concept of urban maroons to Baltimore's runaway slaves, this article ultimately dismisses its suitability for this case. In the process, this examination reveals the core of the concept, which, above all, concerns the aspect of resistance. In this context, it will be argued that resistance in the sense of rejecting the control of the dominant society should be included in the general definition of marronage.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)169-195
JournalInternational Review of Social History
Volume65
Issue number28
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes

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