Dear VA-HISTERS:
  Please excuse some shameless self-promotion.  The following is a blurb
for a colleague's and my appearance on the radio show, "With Good
Reason," May 9-15.

A new website has gathered more than 5,000 advertisements offering rewards
for runaway slaves—placed in Virginia newspapers from 1736 through 1803.
Tom Costa (University of Virginia College at Wise) says that taken as a
whole the ads help to humanize the stories of men and women by giving
modern historians information about their physical appearance, clothing,
skills, family ties, and even their owner’s speculation on why they were
escaping.  Also:  150 years ago, John Brown either sought martyrdom or
earnestly tried to free Virginia’s slaves through his assault on the
Harper’s Ferry arsenal.  Michael Hunt (University of Virginia College at
Wise) dissects history as a form of theater, looking at Brown’s
decades-long rehearsal for his “performance” of the raid, his trial, and
hanging.

Please check their website, www.withgoodreasonradio.org, for more
information and air times.

My project on the runaway ads can be found at www.vcdh.virginia.edu/gos

Tom Costa

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