Printed document with large header reading “$200 Reward” and a handwritten note at the bottom signed by the submitter, Thomas C. Scott

$200 Reward broadside
1835
Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

$200 Reward broadside

Advertising a $200 reward for the capture of Frank Mullen, this broadside is a tangible articulation of the evils of slavery. Scholars have urged a rethinking of the term “runaway” in favor of “self-emancipation” to highlight the brave agency (rather than criminality) inherent in the act of fleeing enslavement. Here, the subscriber describes Mullen’s self-liberation from bondage as absconding “without any provocation,” failing to recognize what is perhaps the most human of motives: freedom.

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