Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division

Runaways who hid in urban centers had to be cautious and well aware of the city ordinances and state statutes that regulated the movement and activities of enslaved and free blacks. In this New York City statute of the 1730s, black, mulatto, and Indian slaves were prohibited from walking the streets of the city "in the Night-time" under penalty of being arrested and jailed.