Runaway Advertisement for Minty (Harriet Tubman) and Her Two Brothers, October 3, 1849

Harriet Tubman’s owner, Eliza Brodess, took out this ad in the Cambridge Democrat , a newspaper published on the Eastern Shore, roughly two weeks after “Minty” and her brothers ran away. Slave owners often waited to place ads until they were certain the slaves would not return of their own accord, a common practice across the South. Contrary to many ads that offered less money for female slaves, Brodess’s ad indicates that she valued Tubman as much as her brothers, offering $100 each for their return.