Running For Freedom

Running for Freedom explores the lives of enslaved men, women, and children who fled the farms and
plantations in North Carolina between 1775 and 1840. It is a story of resilience, tenacity, and fearlessness by enslaved men and women who sought to separate themselves from the environs of their brutal enslavement. It chronicles their quest to find measures of physical and psychological freedom; including efforts to reconnect with family members from whom
they had been separated, to find freedom in the North and West, and to find relief through petite marronage. This study is based on thousands of advertisements for enslaved runaways placed in North Carolina newspapers. In his 1994 publication, Stealing a Little Freedom: Advertisements for Slave Runaways in North Carolina, 1791-1840, Freddie L. Parker wrote: "These invaluable notices written by slaveowners who sought only the retrieval of their human property represent "unconscious evidence," allowing us to peer into their world and into the world of the slaves. The notices in many ways "resurrect" both slaves and slaveowners, and provide clues that help us understand the world in which they lived. Subscribers—in many cases—were mouth pieces for their escaped slaves. We are able to gauge slave deportment, countenance, speech impediments, speech fluency and disfluencies, and other personality traits." Running for Freedom indeed resurrects nameless, faceless human beings, and also shows that the farms and plantations in North Carolina were not chapels of ease, nurseries, or schools, rather, prisons from which enslaved men, women, and children sought constantly to escape.

Dr. Freddie L. Parker is currently Professor Emeritus, and former Julius L. Chambers Endowed Professor of History at North Carolina Central University in Durham, N.C. He taught American, African American, and African History at North Carolina Central University for thirty-nine (39) years.

He is author of the books, Running for Freedom: Slave Runaways in NC, 1775-1840 and
Stealing a Little Freedom: Advertisements for Slave Runaways in NC, 1791-1840

On November 19, 2008, Dr. Parker was appointed by Governor Mike Easley to the then newly-created African American Heritage Commission. In January 2011, Governor Beverly Purdue appointed him Chair of the Commission. He was appointed by Governor Mike Easley to the North Carolina Historical Commission in 2001 and reappointed in 2007; he is past chairman of the North Carolina Historical Highway Marker Commission; a member of the Historical Society of North Carolina, and the North Caroliniana Society. He appeared on several PBS and BBC television specials, including:

Why Celebrate Juneteenth, Reparations for Slavery, Blacks in Civil War North Carolina, Blacks in Reconstruction North Carolina, Slavery in North Carolina, The Residual Effects of Slavery, and Slavery in the Making of America for The University of North Carolina Center for Public Television, and The Gospel Truth for the British Broadcasting Company.

In 2013, Dr. Parker received the Christopher Crittenden Award for his career contributions to the historical profession in North Carolina. He is a recipient of the UNC Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award, and a member of the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society and the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in the Social Sciences.

On February 11, 2020, Dr. Parker was honored by Governor Roy Cooper for his exemplary service and invaluable contributions made to North Carolina's community and education culture.