This advertisement, published in The Virginia Gazette on February 2, 1782, reports the escape of an enslaved woman named Eve. It was placed by Harrison Randolph on behalf of his aunt, Elizabeth Randolph. Eve had escaped the Randolphs’ Williamsburg home after the 1781 Siege of Yorktown. This copy of the ad was kept by St. George Tucker, a neighbor who knew her. Eve had a son named George, who reportedly left with her. Ads about escaped enslaved persons reveal the choices that enslaved people made and highlight their courage, resilience, and agency. They also show how enslavers used newspapers to track escapees and how slavery was publicly reinforced through the press in 18th-century Virginia.

TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD

FOR apprehending EVE, a Negro woman slave, who left York after the surrender; she is about
forty years old, very black and slender, has a small mouth for a Negro, and a remarkable mole
on her nose: She has since been seen on her way to Hampton. She carried with her a variety
of striped and checked Virginia cloth clothes. Whoever delivers her to the subscriber in Rich-
mond, shall receive the above reward.

HARRISON RANDOLPH.

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This advertisement, published in The Virginia Gazette on February 2, 1782, reports the escape of an enslaved woman named Eve. It was placed by Harrison Randolph on behalf of his aunt, Elizabeth Randolph. Eve had escaped the Randolphs’ Williamsburg home after the 1781 Siege of Yorktown. This copy of the ad was kept by St. George Tucker, a neighbor who knew her. Eve had a son named George, who reportedly left with her. Ads about escaped enslaved persons reveal the choices that enslaved people made and highlight their courage, resilience, and agency. They also show how enslavers used newspapers to track escapees and how slavery was publicly reinforced through the press in 18th-century Virginia.

TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD

FOR apprehending EVE, a Negro woman slave, who left York after the surrender; she is about
forty years old, very black and slender, has a small mouth for a Negro, and a remarkable mole
on her nose: She has since been seen on her way to Hampton. She carried with her a variety
of striped and checked Virginia cloth clothes. Whoever delivers her to the subscriber in Rich-
mond, shall receive the above reward.

HARRISON RANDOLPH.