Details
[SLAVERY]. Printed broadside. A reward poster for the recapture of a runaway slave. Washington, D. C. 28 November 1857. Printed by H. Polkinhorn's Steam Job Printing Office. 1 page, 4to, 8 5/8 x 11¼, some wear at folds, matted and framed.
A SLAVE REWARD POSTER. A short document that contains a wealth of historical information, a veritable window into the volatile political and moral struggle waged between a master and the person he tried to make his slave. "$100 REWARD," blares the bold printed headline: "Ran away from the subscriber, living near the Anacostia Bridge, on or about the 17th November, negro girl ELIZA. She calls herself Eliza Coursy. She is of the ordinary size, from 18 to 20 years old, of a chestnut or copper color. Eliza has some scars about her face, has been hired in Washington, and has acquaintances in Georgetown. I will give fifty dollars if taken in the District or Maryland, and one hundred dollars if taken in any free State; but in either case she must be secured in jail so that I can get her again. John P. Waring. Nov. 28, 1857."
Waring's language tries to objectify and dehumanize Eliza Coursy: "negro girl," "ordinary size," "chestnut or copper color." But even through his own words, her individuality and defiance come through, beginning of course with the fact that she has run away. In order to find her he must provide as much information about her as he can. He is forced, in other words, to give us something of her version of her life. We know that she insists on a full name, not just a slave first name. She is probably the product of a mixed-race sexual union. The "scars about her face" suggest explosive violence inflicted upon her (for some rebellious act?). She has tasted a degree of freedom--being hired out as a laborer Washington, as Frederick Douglass was before he ran away, also from the Anacostia region. She enjoyed a community of friends or relations in Georgetown. His expectation that she might forsake those friends and make it to a free state testifies to his sense of her determination. The powers of money, property, law and punishment are all invoked by Waring, "so that," as he crudely puts it, "I get her again." One nevertheless feels that Eliza Coursy was more than a match for him.
A SLAVE REWARD POSTER. A short document that contains a wealth of historical information, a veritable window into the volatile political and moral struggle waged between a master and the person he tried to make his slave. "$100 REWARD," blares the bold printed headline: "Ran away from the subscriber, living near the Anacostia Bridge, on or about the 17th November, negro girl ELIZA. She calls herself Eliza Coursy. She is of the ordinary size, from 18 to 20 years old, of a chestnut or copper color. Eliza has some scars about her face, has been hired in Washington, and has acquaintances in Georgetown. I will give fifty dollars if taken in the District or Maryland, and one hundred dollars if taken in any free State; but in either case she must be secured in jail so that I can get her again. John P. Waring. Nov. 28, 1857."
Waring's language tries to objectify and dehumanize Eliza Coursy: "negro girl," "ordinary size," "chestnut or copper color." But even through his own words, her individuality and defiance come through, beginning of course with the fact that she has run away. In order to find her he must provide as much information about her as he can. He is forced, in other words, to give us something of her version of her life. We know that she insists on a full name, not just a slave first name. She is probably the product of a mixed-race sexual union. The "scars about her face" suggest explosive violence inflicted upon her (for some rebellious act?). She has tasted a degree of freedom--being hired out as a laborer Washington, as Frederick Douglass was before he ran away, also from the Anacostia region. She enjoyed a community of friends or relations in Georgetown. His expectation that she might forsake those friends and make it to a free state testifies to his sense of her determination. The powers of money, property, law and punishment are all invoked by Waring, "so that," as he crudely puts it, "I get her again." One nevertheless feels that Eliza Coursy was more than a match for him.