Marronnage — Individual Stories of Resistance

Each of the 22,485 advertisements in the marronnage database preserves a moment of individual resistance — a person who chose to flee despite the risks of capture, punishment, and death. Read against the grain of their owners' intent, these advertisements become portraits of defiance. Individual cases document people who fled in pairs across decades of age difference (Victoire, 50, and Marie-Louise, 30), skilled artisans who leveraged urban mobility (Adrien the perruquier), teenagers already bearing the physical marks of plantation labor (Flore, 16, 'thin, with fallen breasts'), and people who fled toward family across islands (Marie, fleeing from Martinique toward her sister in Guadeloupe). These stories constitute the primary microhistorical evidence base for understanding slavery, resistance, and daily life in Saint-Domingue.