Early undocumented workers: Runaway slaves and African Americans in the Urban South, c. 1830-1860

In the antebellum period (1800–1860), thousands of enslaved people attempted to escape slavery by making their way to the burgeoning cities and towns within the American South and passing as free or as self-hired slaves. The labor market proved to be especially beneficial for a successful integration due to capitalist transformations and rapid urbanization. There, runaway slaves joined free African Americans of whom many were undocumented residents of their states. This ‘undocumentedness’ placed them in a liminal status between free and unfree. Over the decades, black people were pushed into even more exploitative working conditions and labored at the lowest end of the urban labor markets. These downward developments were linked to their vulnerable political, legal, and social status. At the same time, this increasingly disadvantageous socio-economic position of the free black population created opportunities for runaway slaves to blend in in large numbers, as well as for the undocumented as a whole to make ends meet.