Silences in the colonial record hide the true extent of marronage

Evidence

But the history of marronage in colonial Virginia is still far from complete. In a period (1718–69) during which Philip Curtin calculates the proportion of Africans brought directly to the colony increased, the absence of the mention of marronage in the 1750–80 years seems odd. This is particularly the case when Gerald Mullin informs us advertised “runaways” were prominent, 12 percent of them being described as African-born or “outlandish,” and a third of the fugitives were thought by their masters to be headed for inland North Carolina. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 715

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader methodological point about the archaeology of the Black radical tradition: the archive’s gaps are themselves evidence.