Dutch-speaking Runaway Slaves in Early American Newspaper Advertisements, 1730-1825

The Dutch-speaking Runaway Slaves dataset includes information 483 Dutch-speaking slaves and three black indentured servants who were reported fleeing their condition of bondage in the American colonies and early United States. The data comes primarily from newspaper advertisements digitized and made available through newspapers.com and ReadEx’s Early American Newspaper Database. This current database is the first to gather and organize data specifically concerning runaway slaves who spoke Dutch. The compilation of this data was primarily intended research on the language and economics of slavery in Dutch New York. The database includes 486 rows of entries, with eleven columns of data about Dutch-speaking runaway slaves. These eleven columns of data are as follows: Year, Name, Age, Sex, Language, Speaks, Owner, County, State, City, and Source.