slavecatcher
Human bounty hunter
A slavecatcher was a person who pursued and captured enslaved people who had escaped, returning them to enslavement for bounty.
In the antebellum United States, slavecatchers operated under legal sanction, particularly after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required Northern states to cooperate in capturing runaways.
The term now appears primarily in historical contexts: The slavecatchers tracked the family through three states.
Reward for capture
- manhuntSearch for a suspect
- pursuitAct of chasing something
- captureTake into custody
- trackerOne who follows trails
hound · bloodhound · patrol · posse · shackles · handcuffs · chase · apprehend
Flight from captivity
- fugitiveOne fleeing authorities
- runawayOne who flees
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- libertyAbsence of unjust constraint
sanctuary · safehouse · harboring · abolitionist · Underground Railroad · refuge · asylum · shelter
Before a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- Underground RailroadCovert abolitionist escape network
- patrollersThose who surveil areas
- abolitionistOpponent of human bondage
Harriet Tubman · rewards · posters · advertisements · Dred Scott · Compromise of 1850 · bounty hunters · border states
bounty
Reward for capture
tracker · hound · bloodhound · patrol · posse · shackles · handcuffs · chase · apprehend · detain
escape
Flight from captivity
liberty · sanctuary · safehouse · harboring · abolitionist · Underground Railroad · refuge · asylum · shelter · hideaway
antebellum
Before a war's start
- plantationLarge-scale farming operation
- Underground RailroadCovert abolitionist escape network
- patrollersThose who surveil areas
abolitionist · Harriet Tubman · rewards · posters · advertisements · Dred Scott · Compromise of 1850 · bounty hunters · border states
slavecatcherabolitionist
Opponent of human bondage
emancipator · freedom fighter · liberator · Harriet Tubman · Frederick Douglass
slavecatcherHarriet Tubman
station master · liberator · rescuer · harborer · Moses
slave, catcher, slaves, slaved, slaving, slavery, slavish, slavishly, enslaved