Nov 21, 2022

Escaping Slavery

A Documentary History of Native American Runaways in British North America

Antonio T. Bly

Hosted by Michael Vann

Buy Book

Summary

Antonio T. Bly had collected and edited hundreds of advertisements offering a reward for enslaved Native Americans who run away from their masters. Escaping Slavery: A Documentary History of Native American Runaways in British North America (Lexington Books, 2022) captures the lives of numerous individuals who refused to sacrifice their humanity in the face of the violent, changing landscapes of early America. The documents reveal much about the strategies of resistance, but also about the fears and anxieties of the white men who viewed Native American women and men as their property.

Antonio T. Bly holds the Peter H. Shattuck Endowed Chair in Colonial American History at California State University, Sacramento. Dr. Bly earned his Ph.D. in American Studies at College of William & Mary in Williamsburg in 2006. He then joined the faculty of Appalachian State University in 2007. For a decade he was the Director of the Africana Studies program. In 2019, he joined the Department of History at Sacramento State University. His previous books include Escaping Servitude: A Documentary History Runaway Servants in Colonial Virginia. Co-authored with Tamia Haygood. Lexington Books, 2015 and Escaping Bondage: A Documentary History of Runaway Slaves in Eighteenth-Century New England, 1700-1789. Lexington Books; 2012.

Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he’s not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California.

Your Host

Michael Vann

Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he’s not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California.

View Profile