Newspaper Ads Show Freed Slaves’ Desperate Search for Lost Relatives
After emancipation, some African American families that were torn apart by slavery turned to newspaper ads in hopes of finding lost loved ones. These “information wanted” advertisements primarily appeared in black-oriented newspapers, which sprang up after the end of the U.S. Civil War. A series of “Lost Friends” ads that appeared in a New Orleans […]
1855 Slave Brochure Starkly Details Sale of Black Americans
One hundred and fifty-three years ago this September, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation declaring his intention to free all slaves in the rebellious states if the South did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by Jan. 1, 1863. At that time, the country was embroiled in the U.S. Civil War, […]