# If you hear someone saying how US slavery "wasn't that bad" check out these runaway slave ads

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hear-someone-saying-how-us-slavery-wasnt-that-bad-check-out-these-runaway-slave-ads/785658>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 1, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hear-someone-saying-how-us-slavery-wasnt-that-bad-check-out-these-runaway-slave-ads/785658 "2017-05-01T19:17:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hear-someone-saying-how-us-slavery-wasnt-that-bad-check-out-these-runaway-slave-ads/785658/1 "2017-05-01T19:17:58Z")

</div>

You will occasionally have some apologist for pre-Civil War US slavery stating that slavery “wasn’t all that bad” and masters took care of their slaves etc. etc.

If you get that send them this list of ads for runaway slaves  
[Hunting down runaway slaves: The cruel ads of Andrew Jackson and ‘the master class’](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/04/11/hunting-down-runaway-slaves-the-cruel-ads-of-andrew-jackson-and-the-master-class/?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.afa070e67f2e)

as to how the slave owners treated their “livestock” re notations about whip scars etc as identifying marks. Andrew Jackson’s ad is remarkably cruel.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hear-someone-saying-how-us-slavery-wasnt-that-bad-check-out-these-runaway-slave-ads/785658/2 "2017-05-01T19:45:29Z")

</div>

Well, Bill O’Reilly was fired, so I don’t expect to hear that anytime soon.