Runaway slave advertisements were a regular feature in antebellum newspapers. Though the penalties for running away could be horrific—whipping, branding, maiming, and the forced donning of heavy iron collars—some individuals risked punishment and separation from their families in hopes of escaping bondage, if only for a short time. Strict laws limiting slaves' activities—including prohibitions on learning to read, write, or even swim—made running away difficult, while the presence of roving slave patrols and the sheer physical distance between slavery and freedom doomed most escape attempts. 

Runaway ads make clear that the most frequent impetus for an enslaved person to run involved the possibility or reality of being sold. Those who caught wind of an impending sale often tried to avoid that fate by absenting themselves. Similarly, individuals recently sold—whether five or five hundred miles away from their former home—often ran away in an effort to return to loved ones lost.