
In 1880, Nancy Williams placed an ad in the Philadelphia newspaper, The Christian Recorder, in hopes of finding her daughters Millie and Mary, who had been enslaved. After the Civil War, newspapers were the best way to locate lost relatives.
The end of legalized slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment made freedom a reality. Many formerly enslaved people like Nancy Williams were eager to find friends and relatives torn from them by enslavement. Newspapers were the best place to start.
Newspaper ads became one of the main ways for the formerly enslaved to reconnect with family and friends. These ads contained crucial information such as who someone may have been sold to, where, and when. But that wasn’t all. It would take a community effort to bring families together again.
The Black Church was instrumental in helping reunite formerly enslaved people with their loved ones. Newspaper ads were read aloud during announcements, spreading the word and bringing people back together. Of course, not all families were reunited, but together, Black people gave each other a fighting chance.
Placing, spreading, and responding to these ads were some of the first things our people did when they became free. We can’t move forward without each other, so how can we embrace each other in the struggle like our ancestors did?