Who was the subject of an advertisement in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“A NEGRO FELLOW named POMP … procur’d a counterfeit Pass.”
On January 13, 1775, nearly two dozen advertisements about enslaved people appeared in newspapers printed in the American colonies. Twenty-two of them ran in the South-Carolina and American General Gazette, published in Charleston, and one in the New-Hampshire Gazette, published in Portsmouth. Those numbers tell a familiar story about the size of the enslaved population in the southern colonies, yet the example from New-Hampshire Gazette demonstrates that slavery was practiced throughout the colonies on the eve of the American Revolution.
Ebenezer Sayer of Wells, Massachusetts (now Maine), placed a notice in the newspaper printed closest to his town, the New-Hampshire Gazette, to advise that “a NEGRO FELLOW named POMP” liberated himself by running away sometime during the evening of December 18, 1774. Sayer described Pomp’s clothing, including the “black silk Handkerchief round his Neck, and a green Cap,” to help readers recognize him. He also offered a reward to anyone who apprehended Pomp and brought him to Sayer in Wells or secured him in the jail in York, Massachusetts (Maine).
In a nota bene, Sayer revealed that Pomp was quite ingenious and carefully planned his escape from enslavement. Before he departed, Pomp “procur’d a counterfeit Pass, changing his own Name and his Master’s.” Sayer did not reveal how he learned about the pass or anything about its origins, though he does suggest that Pomp could read and write well enough to alter the pass on his own. “All Persons are cautioned against being deceived by such Artifice,” Sayer admonished. He also issued a standard warning to “all Masters of Vessels and others … not to harbour, conceal or carry off said Negro.” Those who aided him would face “Penalties of the Law.” In other words, colonies in New England had their own slave codes to maintain social order, further demonstrating that slavery was not restricted to plantations in southern colonies. Yet Pomp’s story (and the stories of many of the enslaved people in advertisements in the South-Carolina and American General Gazette) also testifies to the spirit of resistance and resilience among enslaved people on the eve of the American Revolution, an exceptionally important story itself.