Dangerous Harbor: Escape Attempts from Servitude and Slavery in Virginia Court Order Books, 1649-1699

Held on microfilm in the Library of Virginia, seventeenth-century Virginia court books record escapes and escape attempts of unfree laborers of Indigenous, European, and African descent. Colony- and county-level documents provide rich source material chronicling the evolution of legal bondage and attempts to resist it. This dataset draws from order books and deed and will books created between 1649 and 1699 from geographically contiguous Lancaster, Westmoreland, and (Old) Rappahannock Counties in Virginia. It covers recorded strategies of self-emancipation, including modes of transportation, co-conspirators, and destination, as well as the legal proceedings following such attempts including punishment, fines, court members, jury members, and other participants in the legal proceedings. Finally, the dataset includes a transcript of the text itself, enabling analysis of change over time in the language surrounding court orders and testimony. It documents a total of 745 people involved in 276 events as indentured servants, enslaved people, jury members, court members, abettors, and more.